---
title: O.C.G.A. § 9-10-71. Service by publication on nonresidents or unknown persons with interest in property in state.
collection: code
id: 9-10-71
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 9-10-71 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/9-10-71
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/9-10-71.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/9-10-71/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t9-ch1-10-(v6)-2023-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=f3cabc45_0#page=764
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: CIVIL PRACTICE / CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE GENERALLY / SERVICE
---

# O.C.G.A. § 9-10-71. Service by publication on nonresidents or unknown persons with interest in property in state.

(a) Where any nonresident or person unknown claims or owns title to or an interest, present or contingent, in any real or personal property in this state, service on the nonresident or unknown owner or claimant may be made by publication in cases affecting such property in proceedings brought:

(1) To remove a cloud therefrom or quiet title thereto;

(2) To cancel or set aside deeds, mortgages, liens, or encumbrances thereon;

(3) To establish, enforce, or foreclose liens thereon;

(4) To enforce, by decree for specific performance, any contract in reference thereto;

(5) To order the partition thereof by division or sale;

(6) To make any decree or order in which the subject of the action is real or personal property in this state in which a nonresident or unknown person has or may have or claims an interest, actual or contingent, and in which the relief demanded consists wholly or in part in excluding him from an interest therein;

(7) Where a nonresident or person unknown has or may have or may claim a present, future, or contingent interest in any property in this state; or

(8) Where a nonresident or person unknown may have or claim any interest in any trust estate in this state and it becomes necessary or proper or advantageous to order a sale of the whole or any part of the property.

(b) This Code section shall be supplemental to the other provisions in this Code providing for service by publication.

## History

Ga. L. 1895, p. 42, § 1; Civil Code 1895, §§ 4976, 4977; Civil Code 1910, §§ 5554, 5555; Code 1933, § 81-205.

## Cross References

Service of process by publication generally, § 9-11-4.

## Law Reviews

For comment on Calhoun Nat’l Bank v. Bentley, 189 Ga. 355, 6 S.E.2d 288 (1939), see 2 Ga. B.J. 68 (1940).

For article, “The 1967 Amendments to the Georgia Civil Practice Act and the Appellate Procedure Act,” see 3 Ga. St. B.J. 383 (1967).

For article summarizing law relating to jurisdiction and venue over domestic and foreign corporations in Georgia, and service therein, see 21 Mercer L. Rev. 457 (1970).