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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 17. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE · Chapter 6. BONDS AND RECOGNIZANCES · Article 3. PROCEEDINGS FOR FORFEITURE OF BONDS OR RECOGNIZANCES

17-6-70. When forfeiture occurs.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. (a)

    A bond forfeiture occurs at the end of the court day upon the failure of appearance of a principal of any bond or recognizance given for the appearance of that person.#

  2. (b)

    An appearance bond shall not be forfeited unless the clerk of the court gave the surety at least 72 hours’ written notice, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, before the time of the required appearance of the principal. Notice shall not be necessary if the time for appearance is within 72 hours from the time of arrest, provided the time for appearance is stated on the bond.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Laws 1831, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 861.; Code 1863, § 4584; Code 1868, § 4605; Code 1873, § 4702; Ga. L. 1878-79, p. 57, § 1; Code 1882, § 4702; Penal Code 1895, § 936; Penal Code 1910, § 961; Code 1933, § 27-905; Ga. L. 1966, p. 430, § 1; Code 1981, § 17-6-70; Ga. L. 1982, p. 1224, § 2; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1588, § 2; Ga. L. 1987, p. 1342, § 2; Ga. L. 1990, p. 8, § 17; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 17; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2933, § 2; Ga. L. 2024, p. 505, § 8/SB 63, effective July 1, 2024.

Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective July 1, 2024, deleted “, or where the principal is given actual notice in open court” following “bond” at the end of subsection (b).

Law reviews

For article on the 2024 amendment of this Code section, see 41 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 129 (2024).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t17-(v15)-pdf.pdf, Volume V15, 2020 edition, 2025 supplement, page 64; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 9ed85bfde942.