2020 Georgia Code
Title 30 - Handicapped Persons
Chapter 5 - Protection of Disabled Adults and Elder Persons
§ 30-5-2. Legislative Purpose

The purpose of this chapter is to provide protective services for abused, neglected, or exploited disabled adults and elder persons. It is not the purpose of this chapter to place restrictions upon the personal liberty of disabled adults or elder persons, but this chapter should be liberally construed to assure the availability of protective services to all disabled adults and elder persons in need of them.

(Ga. L. 1981, p. 1320, § 2; Ga. L. 1997, p. 700, § 2.)

- Rights of persons residing in long-term care facilities generally, § 31-8-100 et seq.

Construction of O.C.G.A. § 30-5-8. - Trial court erred when the court denied the defendant's motion to quash the count of an indictment charging the defendant with exploitation of a disabled adult in violation of the Disabled Adults and Elder Persons Protection Act, O.C.G.A. § 30-5-1 et seq., specifically O.C.G.A. § 30-5-8, because the legislature did not intend for § 30-5-8(a) to apply to sexual acts such as that alleged in the indictment; the most reasonable construction of § 30-5-8(a) is that the legislature did not intend for the statute to apply to sexual acts because the legislature intended for § 30-5-8 to apply only to specifically defined non-sexual acts, and the statute gradually increased the penalties for these non-sexual acts in response to a perceived need to protect disabled persons from "abuse," "neglect," and "exploitation" as defined by the Act, O.C.G.A. § 30-5-3. Smith v. State, 311 Ga. App. 757, 717 S.E.2d 280 (2011).

- Court was unconvinced that the Disabled Adults and Elder Persons Protection Act, O.C.G.A. § 30-5-1 et seq., was designed to apply to a two-party financial transaction, which served as the basis of the creditors' claim. Thompson v. Hornyak (In re Hornyak), Bankr. (Bankr. N.D. Ga. Apr. 1, 2010).