---
title: O.C.G.A. § 17-15-17. Return of fines and fees paid by defendants with vacated convictions; regulation; payments.
collection: code
id: 17-15-17
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 17-15-17 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-15-17
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-15-17.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-15-17/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t17-(v15)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=6c4dfdf8_0#page=165
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.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-15.md
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CRIMINAL PROCEDURE / VICTIM COMPENSATION
extraction_warnings:
  - dehyphenation_unverified:proto-cols
  - dehyphenation_unverified:coordina-tion
---

# O.C.G.A. § 17-15-17. Return of fines and fees paid by defendants with vacated convictions; regulation; payments.

(a) Subject to available funds, for any sentence vacated pursuant to Code Section 17-10-21, any fines and fees paid by the defendant under such sentence shall be returned to the defendant in the amount paid by the defendant.

(b) Payments authorized by subsection (a) of this Code section shall be made from the fund.

(c) The board shall promulgate rules and develop standards, protocols, and guidelines related to the return of fines and fees in coordination with the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, the Department of Community Supervision, the Department of Corrections, and the Administrative Office of the Courts.

(d)(1) Any payment made from the fund under this Code section shall create a debt due and owing to the state by any entity that received a payment of fines and fees that were returned pursuant to this Code section.

(2) If the entity has forwarded any portion of the fines and fees to one or more secondary entities, each such secondary entity shall return the amount forwarded by the forwarding entity to such secondary entity. A valid request from the forwarding entity shall include a copy of the order to vacate, an accounting of the fines and fees paid by the defendant to the forwarding entity, and a statement of the amount forwarded by the forwarding entity to the secondary entity.

(e) Payments authorized or required under paragraph (1) of subsection (d) of this Code section shall be paid into the fund.

## History

Code 1981, § 17-15-17, enacted by Ga. L. 2022, p. 601, § 2/SB 565; Ga. L. 2024, p. 1052, § 6(13)/SB 448, effective July 1, 2024.

## Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective July 1, 2024, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised capitalization in subsection (a).

## Effective Date

This Code section became effective May 9, 2022.