TITLE 37 MENTAL HEALTH

Section 4. Habilitation of the Developmentally Disabled Generally, 37-4-1 through 37-4-127.

ARTICLE 5 RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED PERSONS UNDERGOING HABILITATION, THEIR REPRESENTATIVES, ETC., GENERALLY

37-4-110. Appeal rights of clients, their representatives, or attorneys; payment of costs of appeal; right of client to subsequent appeal and to legal counsel on appeal.

The client, the client's representatives, or the client's attorney may appeal any order of the probate court or administrative law judge rendered in a proceeding under this chapter to the superior court of the county in which the proceeding was held, except as otherwise provided in Article 6 of Chapter 9 of Title 15, and may appeal any order of the juvenile court rendered in a proceeding under this chapter to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court. The appeal to the superior court shall be made in the same manner as appeals from the probate court to the superior court, except that the appeal shall be heard before the court sitting without a jury as soon as practicable but not later than 30 days following the date on which the appeal is filed with the clerk of the superior court. The appeal from the order of the juvenile court to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court shall be as provided by law but shall be heard as expeditiously as possible. The client must pay all costs upon filing any appeal authorized under this Code section or must make an affidavit that he or she is unable to pay costs. The client shall retain all rights of review of any order of the superior court, the Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court as provided by law. The client shall have a right to counsel or, if unable to afford counsel, shall have counsel appointed for the client by the court. The appeal rights provided to the client, the client's representatives, or the client's attorney in this Code section are in addition to any other appeal rights which the parties may have, and the provision of the right for the client, the client's representatives, or the client's attorney to appeal does not deny the right to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to appeal under the general appeal provisions of Code Sections 5-3-2 and 5-3-3.

(Code 1933, § 88-2503.19, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1826, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 982, § 12; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1072, § 3; Ga. L. 1995, p. 10, § 37; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-2/HB 228; Ga. L. 2011, p. 337, § 8/HB 324; Ga. L. 2016, p. 883, §§ 3-13, 3-14/HB 927.)

The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, substituted "administrative law judge" for "hearing officer" in the first sentence.

The 2016 amendment, effective January 1, 2017, substituted "Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court" for "Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court" twice and substituted "Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court" for "Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court" in the fifth sentence. See Editor's notes for applicability.