---
title: O.C.G.A. § 50-2-21. Jurisdiction extends to all persons within state limits; court’s option to decline jurisdiction.
collection: code
id: 50-2-21
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 50-2-21 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/50-2-21
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/50-2-21.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/50-2-21/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=460
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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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: STATE GOVERNMENT / BOUNDARIES AND JURISDICTION OF THE STATE / JURISDICTION
---

# O.C.G.A. § 50-2-21. Jurisdiction extends to all persons within state limits; court’s option to decline jurisdiction.

(a) The jurisdiction of this state and its laws extend to all persons while within its limits, whether as citizens, denizens, or temporary sojourners.

(b) A court of this state may decline to exercise jurisdiction of any civil cause of action of a nonresident accruing outside this state if there is another forum with jurisdiction of the parties in which the trial can be more appropriately held. In determining the appropriateness of this state or of another forum, the court shall take into account the following factors:

(1) The place of accrual of the cause of action;

(2) The location of witnesses;

(3) The residence or residences of the parties;

(4) Whether a litigant is attempting to circumvent the applicable statute of limitations of another state; and

(5) The public factor of the convenience to and burden upon the court.

(c) Upon a motion filed not later than 90 days after the last day allowed for the filing of the moving party’s answer and upon the party’s showing that the existing forum constitutes an inconvenient forum based on the factors listed in subsection (b) of this Code section and where there is another forum which can assume jurisdiction, the court may dismiss the action without prejudice to its being filed in any appropriate jurisdiction on any condition or conditions that may be just.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 23; Code 1868, § 21; Code 1873, § 21; Code 1882, § 21; Civil Code 1895, § 22; Civil Code 1910, § 22; Code 1933, § 15-202; Ga. L. 2003, p. 820, § 5.

## Cross References

Rights of citizens of other states and aliens while in state, § 1-2-9 et seq.

Grounds for exercising personal jurisdiction over nonresidents, § 9-10-91.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2003, p. 820, § 9, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that this Act “shall apply to all civil actions filed on or after July 1, 2003.”

## Law Reviews

For comment on White v. Henry, 232 Ga. 64, 205 S.E.2d 206 (1974), see 26 Mercer L. Rev. 317 (1974).

For article surveying developments in Georgia trial practice and procedure from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 275 (1981).

For annual survey of law of domestic relations, see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 179 (1986).

For annual survey of trial practice and procedure, see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 383 (1986).

For article, “Georgia’s Domestic Relations Long-Arm Statute, Circa 1986,” see 23 St B.J. 74 (1987).

For note on the 2003 amendment to this Code section, see 20 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 28 (2003).

For annual survey of trial practice and procedure, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 433 (2004).