---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-11-32. Procedure on submission of counteraffidavit; trial; nonmeritorious submission; appeal.
collection: code
id: 44-11-32
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-11-32 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-11-32
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-11-32.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-11-32/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch8-17-(v32)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=a600a9b5_0#page=16
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: PROPERTY / EJECTMENT AND PROCEEDINGS AGAINST INTRUDERS / PROCEEDINGS AGAINST INTRUDERS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-11-32. Procedure on submission of counteraffidavit; trial; nonmeritorious submission; appeal.

(1) If the party in possession submits a counteraffidavit as provided in Code Section 44-11-30, the sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, marshal, or other individual certified by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council shall not turn him or her out of possession but shall leave both parties in their respective positions. In such an event, the sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, marshal, or other individual certified by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council shall return both affidavits to the office of the clerk of the magistrate court of the county in which the land is located for a nonjury trial in accordance with the laws of this state.

(2) If the party in possession submits any counteraffidavit or other documentation at trial, upon the magistrate’s determination that the affidavit is not meritorious based on the preponderance of the evidence, the sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, marshal, or other individual certified by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council shall turn him or her out of possession to occur as soon as practicable pursuant to a writ of possession.

(3) The court may award the plaintiff the fair market value rent for the duration of the party’s occupancy, and other monetary relief found appropriate by the court. A party shall have the right to appeal the decision of such magistrate court and such decision shall be directly appealable to the Georgia appellate courts and not by de novo review by the superior court.

## History

Ga. L. 1853-54, p. 52, § 3; Code 1863, § 3981; Code 1868, § 4002; Code 1873, § 4074; Code 1882, § 4074; Civil Code 1895, § 4810; Civil Code 1910, § 5382; Code 1933, § 105-1503; Ga. L. 2024, p. 400, § 6/HB 1017, effective April 24, 2024; Ga. L. 2025, p. 1029, § 44(9)/SB 153, effective July 1, 2025.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2024, p. 400, § 1/HB 1017, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Georgia Squatter Reform Act.’”

## Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective April 24, 2024, rewrote this Code section.

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, deleted the subsection (a) designation and substituted “deputy sheriff,” for “sheriff deputy,” twice in paragraph (1) and once in paragraph (2).