---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-14-185. Defenses by third persons; right of purchaser not party to foreclosure to go behind judgment.
collection: code
id: 44-14-185
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-14-185 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-14-185
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-14-185.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-14-185/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch8-15-(v32)-2022-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=9e9e06de_0#page=615
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/44-14.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-14-184.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-14-186.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: PROPERTY / MORTGAGES, CONVEYANCES TO SECURE DEBT, AND LIENS / FORECLOSURE / FORECLOSURE ON MORTGAGES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-14-185. Defenses by third persons; right of purchaser not party to foreclosure to go behind judgment.

If the mortgagor or his special agent or attorney fails to set up a defense as provided in Code Section 44-14-184, it shall not be competent for any third person to interpose a defense and neither will the court itself, of its own motion, do so. However, one who purchases mortgaged property prior to the commencement of statutory proceedings to foreclose and who is not a party to the proceedings is not bound by the judgment of foreclosure and may, when the mortgage fi. fa. is levied, go behind the judgment and set up the defense that the mortgage could not be legally enforced against him whenever this is necessary and proper to establish the claim of title upon which he relies.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 3869; Code 1868, § 3889; Code 1873, § 3965; Code 1882, § 3965; Civil Code 1895, § 2747; Civil Code 1910, § 3280; Code 1933, § 67-302.

## History of Section.

This Code section is derived from the decisions in Osborne v. Rice, 107 Ga. 281, 33 S.E. 54 (1899), and Simmerson v. Her-ringdine, 166 Ga. 143, 142 S.E. 687 (1928).