O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 15-11-301 (2019)

Expedited hearings; orders

✓ O.C.G.A. (archive.org 2024 item): print volumes of 2004-2024, per-volume vintage; older volumes partly replaced by 2019 Release 73 text; no 2025 or 2026 Acts
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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(a) If no just cause has been shown for delay, all hearings contemplated by this article shall be conducted within 90 days of the date a petition to terminate parental rights is filed.

(b) If no just cause for delay has been shown by written finding of fact by the court, an order of disposition shall be issued by the juvenile court no later than 30 days after the conclusion of the hearing on the petition to terminate parental rights.

(c) All hearings contemplated by this article shall be recorded by stenographic notes or by electronic, mechanical, or other appropriate means capable of accurately capturing a full and complete record of all words spoken during the hearings. If no just cause for delay has been shown, the court reporter shall provide a transcript of the hearings no later than 30 days after a notice of appeal is filed.

(d) This Code section shall not affect the right to request a rehearing or the right to appeal the juvenile court’s order.

(e) Failure to comply with the time requirements of this Code section shall not be grounds to invalidate an otherwise proper order terminating parental rights unless the court determines that such delay resulted in substantial prejudice to a party.

History

Code 1981, § 15-11-301, enacted by Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 1-1/HB 242.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Editor’s notes. - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under pre-2014 Code Section 15-11-106, which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section. See the Editor’s notes at the beginning of the chapter. Just cause for delay. - Although a hearing in a mother’s parental rights termination proceeding was not held for two years, such was justified based on a finding that there was just cause for delay as

one of the fathers of the five children involved in the termination proceeding was difficult to serve; service by publication was too costly for the county agency, many attempts to effect personal service were unsuccessfully made, and the mother deliberately hindered the agency’s efforts to obtain service on the father. In the Interest of A.A., 274 Ga. App. 791, 618 S.E.2d 723 (2005) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-106). Cited in In the Interest of S. P., 336 Ga. App. 488, 784 S.E.2d 846 (2016).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases, 2016–2018 · leading case: In the Interest Of: S. P., a Child (Mother), 784 S.E.2d 846 (Ga. Ct. App. 2016).
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In the Interest Of: S. P., a Child (Mother), 784 S.E.2d 846 (Ga. Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 6× “OCGA § 15-11-301 (a) requires that the juvenile court “first determine whether one of [several specified] statutory grounds for termination of parental rights has been met[.”
In the Interest of E. G. L. B., 805 S.E.2d 285 (Ga. Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 2× “en’s dependent status is likely to continue, that the children’s continued dependency is likely to cause serious physical, mental, or emotional harm, or that termination of his parental rights was in the children’s best interest; (2) he was deprived of due process throughout the…”
In re Interest of I.L.M., 816 S.E.2d 620 (Ga. 2018). · cites it 2× “, OCGA § 15-11-301 (time requirements for hearings on petitions to terminate parental rights); OCGA § 15-11-403 (regulating continuances of hearings on complaints alleging children are in need of services); and OCGA § 15-11-478 (addressing continuances of hearings in delinquency…”
In the Interest of I. L. M., Child., 304 Ga. 114 (2018). · cites it 2× “, OCGA §§ 15-11-301 (time requirements for hearings on petitions to terminate parental rights); 15-11-403 (regulating continuances of hearings on complaints alleging children are in need of services); and 15-11-478 (addressing continuances of hearings in delinquency proceedings).”
In the Interest of E. G. L. B., Child. (Father), No. A17A0881 (Ga. Ct. App. Sept. 20, 2017). · cites it 2× “under OCGA § 15-11-301. For the reasons set forth infra, we vacate the judgment and remand the case for additional proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.