Georgia Code
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 15-9-13. Procedure When Judge Unable to Act; Compensation

History. Ga. L. 1889, p. 100, § 1; Civil Code 1895, § 4227; Ga. L. 1897, p. 52, § 1; Ga. L. 1907, p. 107, § 1; Civil Code 1910, § 4785; Code 1933, § 24-1710; Ga. L. 1951, p. 129, § 2; Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 182, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 891, § 1; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 50; Ga. L. 1983, p. 544, § 1; Ga. L. 1983, p. 884, § 3-14; Ga. L. 1987, p. 1482, § 2; Ga. L. 2018, p. 356, § 1-13/SB 436.
The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, substituted the present provisions of subsection (a) for the former provisions, which read: “Whenever a judge of the probate court is disqualified to act in any case or because of sickness, absence, or any other reason is unable to act in any case, the judge of the probate court may appoint an attorney at law who is a member of the State Bar of Georgia to exercise the jurisdiction of the probate court. If the judge of the probate court does not so appoint, the judge of the city or state court, as the case may be, shall exercise all the jurisdiction of the judge of the probate court in the case. If, however, the inability of the probate judge to act arises from any unlawful act or the accusation of an unlawful act on the part of the probate judge, the probate judge may not appoint an attorney and only another judge shall exercise the jurisdiction of the probate court.”; deleted former subsection (b), which read: “If there is no such judge or if for some reason the judge cannot serve in the case, the clerk of the judge of the probate court shall exercise all the jurisdiction of the judge of the probate court in the case.”; redesignated former subsections (c) and (d) as present subsection (b) and (c), respectively; in subsection (b), deleted “clerk of the” following “reason the” near the beginning, substituted “fails to appoint an attorney to serve, the chief judge” for “cannot serve in such case, the judge” near the middle, and substituted “an individual” for “a person” in the middle; in subsection (c), in the first sentence, substituted “Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (4) of subsection (a) of Code Section 15-9-2.1, the” for “The” at the beginning, substituted “individual” for “person” near the middle, and inserted “chief” near the end, and, in the third sentence, substituted “such service by an individual who is not an associate judge of the probate court” for “the service”.
Cross references.
Filling of vacancies in public office generally, § 45-5-1 et seq.
Appointment of attorney to act in probate court judge’s absence, Uniform Rules for the Probate Courts, Rule 3.

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