---
title: O.C.G.A. § 37-3-150. Right to appeal orders of probate court, juvenile court, or hearing examiner; payment of costs of appeal; right to subsequent appeal; right to legal counsel on appeal.
collection: code
id: 37-3-150
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 37-3-150 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-150
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-150.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-3-150/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t37-t39-(v28)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=6f93000f_0#page=79
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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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: MENTAL HEALTH / EXAMINATION, TREATMENT, ETC., FOR MENTAL ILLNESS / RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF PATIENTS, THEIR REPRESENTATIVES, ETC., GENERALLY / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 37-3-150. Right to appeal orders of probate court, juvenile court, or hearing examiner; payment of costs of appeal; right to subsequent appeal; right to legal counsel on appeal.

The patient, the patient’s representatives, or the patient’s attorney may appeal any order of the probate court or hearing officer 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 patient 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 patient 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 patient shall have a right to counsel or, if unable to afford counsel, shall have counsel appointed for the patient by the court. The appeal rights provided to the patient, the patient’s representatives, or the patient’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 patient, the patient’s representatives, or the patient’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 Section 5-3-4.

## History

Code 1933, § 88-502.16, enacted by Ga. L. 1969, p. 505, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-502.19, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1789, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 982, § 11; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1072, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 10, § 37; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-2/HB 228; Ga. L. 2016, p. 883, §§ 3-13, 3-14/HB 927; Ga. L. 2022, p. 767, § 2-27/HB 916.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2022, p. 767, § 3-1/HB 916, not codified by the General Assembly, makes this Code section applicable to petitions for review filed in superior or state court on or after July 1, 2023.

## Amendments

The 2022 amendment, effective July 1, 2023, substituted “Code Section 5-3-4” for “Code Sections 5-3-2 and 5-3-3” at the end of this Code section. See Editor’s notes for applicability.