Arkansas Code
Subchapter 2 - Commitment and Treatment
§ 20-47-205. Jurisdiction of circuit court

(a) The circuit courts of this state shall have exclusive jurisdiction of the involuntary admission procedures initiated pursuant to this subchapter.
(b)
(1) Within seven (7) days of the person's detention, excluding weekends and holidays, the court shall conduct the hearing as defined in § 20-47-214.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d) of this section, the hearing, as defined by §§ 20-47-214 and 20-47-215, shall be conducted by the same court, or by a judge designated on exchange, who heard the original petition and issued the appropriate order.
(3) The court shall ensure that the person sought to be involuntarily admitted is afforded all his or her rights as prescribed by this subchapter.
(4) The circuit judge, when conducting any hearing set out in this subchapter, may conduct the hearing within any county of the judge's judicial district.

(c) The hearings conducted pursuant to §§ 20-47-209, 20-47-214, and 20-47-215 may be held at inpatient programs of the state mental health system or a receiving facility or program where the person is detained.
(d) A circuit judge of the Sixth Judicial District sitting within the Sixth Judicial District may conduct involuntary commitment hearings prescribed by §§ 20-47-214 and 20-47-215 and initiated in other judicial districts of this state pursuant to §§ 20-47-207 and 20-47-209 provided that the person sought to be committed is detained within the boundaries of the Sixth Judicial District at the time of the hearing held pursuant to §§ 20-47-214 or 20-47-215. The Sixth Judicial District shall thus assume the mantle of other judicial districts and shall have the authority to enter treatment orders for other judicial districts in the hearings prescribed by §§ 20-47-214 and 20-47-215. In those cases, no initial petition pursuant to § 20-47-207 shall be filed in the Sixth Judicial District but only in the court of original jurisdiction. Provided, however, if the person was transported to a location within the Sixth Judicial District by order of a court outside the Sixth Judicial District, the court of original jurisdiction may conduct the hearings prescribed by §§ 20-47-214 and 20-47-215.

Structure Arkansas Code