---
title: O.C.G.A. § 19-13-20. Definitions.
collection: code
id: 19-13-20
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 19-13-20 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/19-13-20
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/19-13-20.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/19-13-20/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t18-t19-(v16)-2022-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=b0848ebd_0#page=1295
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/19-13.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/19-13-17.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/19-13-21.md
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: DOMESTIC RELATIONS / FAMILY VIOLENCE / FAMILY VIOLENCE SHELTERS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 19-13-20. Definitions.

As used in this article, the term:

(1) “Council” means the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

(2) “Family or household members” means spouses, parents and children, or other persons related by consanguinity or affinity and occupying a common domicile.

(3) “Family violence” means the occurrence of one of the following acts between family or household members who reside together:

(A) Attempting to cause or causing bodily injury or serious bodily injury with or without a deadly weapon; or

(B) By physical menace, placing another in fear of imminent serious bodily injury.

(4) “Family violence program” means any program whose primary stated purpose is to provide services to victims of family violence. A family violence program may be but is not required to be associated with a family violence shelter.

(5) “Family violence shelter” means a facility approved by the council for the purpose of receiving, on a temporary basis, persons who are subject to family violence. Family violence shelters are distinguished from shelters operated for detention or placement of children only, as provided in subsection (c) of Code Section 15-11-135 and subsection (a) of Code Section 15-11-504.

## History

Ga. L. 1981, p. 663, § 1; Ga. L. 1983, p. 521, § 1; Ga. L. 1988, p. 13, § 19; Ga. L. 1988, p. 1287, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 819, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 20, § 14; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 2-2/HB 228; Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 4-30/HB 242; Ga. L. 2015, p. 890, § 9/HB 263.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 5-1/HB 242, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “This Act shall become effective on January 1, 2014, and shall apply to all offenses which occur and juvenile proceedings commenced on and after such date. Any offense occurring before January 1, 2014, shall be governed by the statute in effect at the time of such offense and shall be considered a prior adjudication for the purpose of imposing a disposition that provides for a different penalty for subsequent adjudications, of whatever class, pursuant to this Act. The enactment of this Act shall not affect any prosecutions for acts occurring before January 1, 2014, and shall not act as an abatement of any such prosecutions.”