---
title: O.C.G.A. § 15-9-34. Contempt powers.
collection: code
id: 15-9-34
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 15-9-34 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-9-34
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-9-34.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/15-9-34/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t15-ch1-11a-(v13)-2020-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=d8a8826c_0#page=454
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: COURTS / PROBATE COURTS / JURISDICTION, POWER, AND DUTIES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 15-9-34. Contempt powers.

(a) The judge of the probate court shall have power to enforce obedience to all lawful orders of his or her court, including a guardianship order or conservatorship order from another state that has been registered with and recorded by the probate court under Article 4 of Chapter 11 of Title 29, by attachment for contempt under the same rules as are provided for other courts.

(b) Probate courts may issue rules and attachments for contempts offered the court or its process by any executor, administrator, guardian, or other person and may punish the same by a fine as high as $500.00 or imprisonment not exceeding 20 days, or both.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, §§ 307, 4021, 4033; Code 1868, §§ 367, 4050, 4063; Code 1873, §§ 332, 4121, 4128; Code 1882, §§ 332, 4121, 4128; Civil Code 1895, §§ 4233, 4261, 4267; Civil Code 1910, §§ 4791, 4819, 4825; Code 1933, §§ 24-2113, 24-2114; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1421, § 1; Ga. L. 2019, p. 693, § 38/HB 70.

The 2019 amendment, effective January 1, 2020, in subsection (a), inserted ‘‘or her’’, and inserted ‘‘, including a guardianship order or conservatorship order from another state that has been registered with and recorded by the probate court under Article 4 of Chapter 11 of Title 29,’’.

## Cross References

Exercise of contempt power generally, § 15-1-4.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘Contempt of Court in Georgia,’’ see 23 Ga. St. B. J. 66 (1987). For article, ‘‘How Not to Get Thrown in Jail,’’ see 22 Ga. Bar. J. 17 (June 2017).