---
title: O.C.G.A. § 49-4-170. Grounds for appointing personal representative; petition by county or district director.
collection: code
id: 49-4-170
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 49-4-170 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-4-170
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-4-170.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-4-170/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t49-t50-ch1-12-(v38)-2023-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=60c992b5_0#page=176
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/49-4.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-4-169.3.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/49-4-171.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: SOCIAL SERVICES / PUBLIC ASSISTANCE / PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE TO MANAGE ASSISTANCE PAYMENTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 49-4-170. Grounds for appointing personal representative; petition by county or district director.

When any otherwise qualified applicant for or recipient of assistance under this chapter or payee, in the case of temporary assistance for needy families, is or shall become unable to manage the assistance payments or otherwise fails so to manage, to the extent that deprivation or hazard to himself or herself or others results, or when, in the case of temporary assistance for needy families, the payment is not being used for the benefit of the children or the pregnant woman, a petition may be filed by the county or district director of family and children services before the probate court of the county in which the applicant resides or the county in which the recipient receives his or her check, in the form of a verified written application for the appointment of a personal representative for the purpose of receiving and managing public assistance payments for any such recipient or payee, which application shall allege one or more of the above grounds for the legal appointment of such personal representative.

## History

Ga. L. 1964, p. 200, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1021, § 7; Ga. L. 2023, p. 314, § 1/HB 129, effective July 1, 2023.

The 2023 amendment, effective July 1, 2023, inserted “or herself”, “or the pregnant woman”, and “or her”.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 1997, p. 1021, § 10, not codified by the General Assembly, provides for severability.

## Law Reviews

For article commenting on the 1997 amendment of this Code section, see 14 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 284 (1997).