2021 Georgia Code
Title 15 - Courts
Chapter 21 - Payment and Disposition of Fines and Forfeitures
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 15-21-13. Priority of Payment of Claims for Fees of Solicitors of City Courts, Sheriffs, Clerks, and District Attorneys
- All claims for fees of solicitors of city courts, sheriffs, clerks, and district attorneys shall be paid from the funds arising from fines imposed in criminal cases before any claim or order of any claimant or distributee shall be paid.
- Nothing contained in subsection (a) of this Code section shall in any way affect the fines and bond forfeitures of any court whose officers are on salaries and where the fines and bond forfeitures are remitted to the county treasury.
(Ga. L. 1952, p. 246, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1983, p. 884, § 5-5; Ga. L. 2015, p. 693, § 3-32/HB 233.)
The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, substituted "fines and bond forfeitures" for "fines and forfeitures" twice in subsection (b). See editor's note for applicability.
Editor's notes.- Ga. L. 2015, p. 693, § 4-1/HB 233, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2015, and shall apply to seizures of property for forfeiture that occur on or after that date. Any such seizure that occurs before July 1, 2015, shall be governed by the statute in effect at the time of such seizure."
Law reviews.- For article on the 2015 amendment of this Code section, see 32 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 1 (2015).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Sources of payment of claims for fees of justices of the peace.
- In view of the provisions of this section that all claims for fees of justices of the peace shall be paid from the funds arising from fines imposed in criminal cases before any order of any claimant shall be paid, it appears that even in cases of conviction, costs should first be paid out of the fine and forfeiture fund, and, if such fund is insufficient in a given case, then out of the general county treasury. Gill v. Decatur County, 129 Ga. App. 697, 201 S.E.2d 21 (1973).
Cited in Gay v. Lewis, 101 Ga. App. 387, 114 S.E.2d 155 (1960).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
C.J.S.
- 36A C.J.S., Fines, §§ 2, 19. 37 C.J.S., Forfeitures, §§ 1, 6, 7, 8, 10 et seq, 39, 41.
