Paul Groth and Christopher Welton appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to Ace Cash Express, Inc. “Ace” on Ace’s claim that they were personally liable to Ace as guarantors of the debts of Empire Financial, LLP “Empire”. Groth and Welton argue that the trial court instead should have granted their motion for summary judgment because the guaranty Ace seeks to enforce does not satisfy the Statute of Frauds. We agree and reverse. Summary judgment is proper where there are no genuine issues of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.1 We review de novo a trial court’s decision on summary judgment.2 Here, the material facts are not in dispute. In 1996, Ace and William Willis entered into a franchise agreement the “franchise agreement” whereby Willis would operate an Ace check cashing franchise in Georgia. Willis signed a separate personal guaranty of all obligations under the franchise agreement “Willis guaranty”, which was attached as Exhibit F to the agreement. Willis subsequently assigned the Ace franchise to Southern Financial Express, Inc. “Southern”, which he and Deborah Moffett owned as equal partners. This was done with Ace’s consent, through a document entitled “Assignment/Assumption Agreement and Consent” “Southern assignment”.
On November 15, 1999, Ace, Southern, and Empire entered into an “Assignment/Assumption Agreement and Consent” in which Southern transferred the Ace franchise agreement to Empire with Ace’s consent “Empire assignment”. Southern is identified as the “Assignor” and Empire as the “Assignee.” The Empire assignment provides, in pertinent part: 2. Assumption . Assignee hereby assumes the obligations and liabilities of Assignor in and under the Franchise Agreement, including to personally guarantee the obligations of the Assignee as set forth in the Franchise Agreement under Exhibit F —Guaranty which is attached hereto as Exhibit A.3 Elsewhere in the Empire assignment, Groth and Welton are identified as the owners of Empire. The signature lines read:
