2021 Georgia Code
Title 39 - Minors
Chapter 1 - General Provisions
§ 39-1-1. Age of Legal Majority; Residence of Persons in State for Purpose of Attending School

1. The age of legal majority in this state is 18 years; until that age all persons are minors.
2. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed automatically to render an individual a resident of this state when that individual is in the state for the purpose of attending school. In the case of such individual, his residence will be considered to be the state in which his parents reside if under the laws of that state the individual would still be considered a minor and he is incapable of proving his emancipation.

(Orig. Code 1863, § 1742; Code 1868, § 1782; Code 1873, § 1791; Code 1882, § 1791; Civil Code 1895, § 2500; Civil Code 1910, § 3019; Code 1933, § 74-104; Ga. L. 1972, p. 193, § 1.)

- Rights of minors generally, § 1-2-8.

Age restrictions in regard to purchase of alcoholic beverages, § 3-3-23.

Effect of minority status on tolling of limitations, § 9-3-90.

Service of process on resident minors over 14 temporarily outside state, § 9-10-70.

Appointment of guardian ad litem for minor not otherwise represented in court action, § 9-11-17.

Capacity of minors to enter into contracts, § 13-3-20 et seq.

Termination of juvenile's order of disposition, § 15-11-443.

Referral of juveniles to adult services upon reaching age of majority, § 15-11-451.

Minimum age at which person may be held criminally responsible for his actions, § 16-3-1.

Offenses relating to exhibition of lewd or indecent materials to minors, § 16-12-101 et seq.

Penalty for knowingly selling or delivering to minor any drug-related object, § 16-13-1.

Domicile of minors generally, § 19-2-4.

Age at which persons may contract marriage without parental consent, § 19-3-2.

Parental control of children under age of majority, § 19-7-1.

Age groups to which compulsory school attendance law applies, § 20-2-690.

Further provisions regarding determination of resident status of university students for tuition or fee purposes, § 20-3-66.

Guardians of minors, T. 29, C. 4.

Minimum age requirements for issuance of driver's license, § 40-5-22.

Applications by minors for instruction permits or drivers' licenses, § 40-5-26.

Making of certain gifts to persons under age 21, § 44-5-110 et seq.

Maximum age for pleading infancy as defense to tort action, § 51-11-6.

Minimum age at which person considered capable of making will, § 53-4-10.

- Ga. L. 1972, p. 193, § 10, effective July 1, 1972, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that the purpose of the Act was to reduce the age of legal majority from 21 years of age to 18 years of age so that all persons, upon reaching the age of 18, would have the rights, privileges, powers, duties, responsibilities, and liabilities previously applicable to persons 21 years of age or over. The section further provided that the Act was not to be construed to have the effect of changing the age from 21 to 18 with respect to any legal instrument or court decree in existence prior to July 1, 1972, when the instrument referred only to "the age of majority" or words of similar import, except that any guardianship of the person or property of a minor under the provisions of Title 49 of the 1933 Code, whether such guardianship was created by court order or decree entered before or after July 1, 1972, or under the will of a testator which was executed after July 1, 1972, would terminate when the ward for whom such guardianship was created reached 18 years of age.

- For article, "The Georgia Power of Attorney Act," see 24 Ga. St. B. J. 20 (Dec. 2018). For comment on Barnwell v. Cordle, 438 F.2d 236 (5th Cir. 1971), refusing to apply doctrine of parental immunity to suit brought by minor against father's estate, see 8 Ga. St. B.J. 544 (1972).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Computation.

- One becomes of full age on the day preceding the twenty-first (now eighteenth) anniversary of one's birth, on the first moment of that day. Thomas v. Couch, 171 Ga. 602, 156 S.E. 206 (1930) (decided under prior law).

- Any portion of a verdict and judgment intending to provide for support for any child beyond his or her eighteenth birthday is a nullity. Wilcox v. Wilcox, 242 Ga. 598, 250 S.E.2d 465 (1978).

- Without the consent of the husband-father in a child support controversy, neither the jury nor the court can require him to support his minor child beyond the child's eighteenth birthday, and an attempt to do so is a nullity. Ritchea v. Ritchea, 244 Ga. 476, 260 S.E.2d 871 (1979).

- When the age of majority at the time of divorce was 21, it was proper to continue child support in accordance with the original agreement even though the statute reduced the age of majority to 18. Spivey v. Schneider, 234 Ga. 687, 217 S.E.2d 251 (1975).

- Right in an adult child to recover support from his father (now parent) beyond the age of majority was barred by former Code 1933, §§ 74-104 and 74-105 (see O.C.G.A. §§ 39-1-1 and19-7-2, respectively) which provide together that a father's (now parent's) obligation to provide for the maintenance, protection, and education of his child ceases when the child reaches majority. Crane v. Crane, 225 Ga. 605, 170 S.E.2d 392 (1969), (decided under prior law).

- Reduction of the age of majority from 21 to 18 did not modify the provisions of the Juvenile Court Code, which still applies to those under the age of 21 years who have committed an act of delinquency before reaching the age of 17. W.F. v. State, 144 Ga. App. 523, 241 S.E.2d 631 (1978).

- Georgia provides no "mature minor" exception to the state's general rule that only adults may refuse unwanted medical care. Novak v. Cobb County-Kennestone Hosp. Auth., 849 F. Supp. 1559 (N.D. Ga. 1994), aff'd, 74 F.3d 1173 (11th Cir. 1996).

- Provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act, O.C.G.A. § 34-9-1 et seq., are manifestly general and not special laws and operate uniformly upon all minors who are employed under such circumstances as to come under the Workers' Compensation Act, who are 18 years of age or over, and who are not mentally incompetent or physically incapable of earning a livelihood. The legislature has ample power to regulate the age of minority or majority, and may divide minors into two classes, those above and those below a certain age, and endow all those above such age with all the rights of adults in reference to certain kinds of contracts without violating the provision of the Constitution. The effect of such an Act is merely to provide that in reference to certain kinds of contracts the age of majority shall be 18 instead of 21 years. Rourke v. U.S. Fid. & Guar. Co., 187 Ga. 636, 1 S.E.2d 728 (1939) (decided under prior law).

- West v. United States, 399 F.2d 467 (5th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1102, 89 S. Ct. 903, 21 L. Ed. 2d 795 (1969), which enumerates factors applying to confessions or statements of juveniles is inapposite if the defendant is 18 years or older. White v. State, 251 Ga. 482, 306 S.E.2d 636 (1983).

Cited in McDowell v. Georgia R.R., 60 Ga. 320 (1878); Dent v. Cock, 65 Ga. 400 (1880); Bulloch v. Bulloch, 45 Ga. App. 1, 163 S.E. 708 (1932); Newton v. Newton, 222 Ga. 175, 149 S.E.2d 128 (1966); Ehrhart v. Brooks, 231 Ga. 272, 201 S.E.2d 464 (1973); Gould v. State, 131 Ga. App. 811, 207 S.E.2d 519 (1974); Choquette v. Choquette, 232 Ga. 759, 208 S.E.2d 848 (1974); Marchman v. State, 132 Ga. App. 677, 209 S.E.2d 88 (1974); State v. Gould, 232 Ga. 844, 209 S.E.2d 312 (1974); Whitworth v. Whitworth, 233 Ga. 53, 210 S.E.2d 9 (1974); Herring v. Herring, 233 Ga. 484, 211 S.E.2d 893 (1975); Welch v. State, 237 Ga. 665, 229 S.E.2d 390 (1976); Jones v. Jones, 244 Ga. 32, 257 S.E.2d 537 (1979); Nash v. Nash, 244 Ga. 749, 262 S.E.2d 64 (1979); Woodes v. Morris, 247 Ga. 771, 279 S.E.2d 704 (1981); State v. Hasty, 158 Ga. App. 464, 280 S.E.2d 873 (1981); Blalock v. Anneewakee, Inc., 206 Ga. App. 676, 426 S.E.2d 165 (1992); Penny v. McBride, 282 Ga. App. 590, 639 S.E.2d 561 (2006); Johnson v. Thompson, 286 Ga. App. 810, 650 S.E.2d 322 (2007).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Intent of age of majority law.

- Ga. L. 1972, p. 193, § 1 was intended to reduce the age at which an individual attained full legal capacity and thereby shed one's civil disabilities; it was not intended to necessarily affect all existing laws setting an age qualification of 21, unless such laws were tied directly to the age of majority. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 72-118.

- Department of Probation (now Department of Offender Rehabilitation) should collect child support payments for individuals between 18 and 21 when such payments arise out of court orders in existence prior to July 1, 1972. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U72-40.

- Since the age of majority, and consequently the age of emancipation from legal custody and control of the parent, is 18 years of age, a person 18 years of age or older may consent to an abortion. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 72-118.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 42 Am. Jur. 2d, Infants, §§ 1 et seq., 28, 30.

- 43 C.J.S., Infants, § 2.

- Liability of parent for necessaries furnished to adult child, 42 A.L.R. 150.

Age at which female attains majority, 95 A.L.R. 355.

Calculation of newborn child's age for purposes of life insurance policy requiring that specified age be reached before coverage begins, 37 A.L.R.3d 1448.

Burden of proof of defendant's age, in prosecution where attainment of particular age is statutory requisite of guilt, 49 A.L.R.3d 526.

Statutory change of age of majority as affecting preexisting status or rights, 75 A.L.R.3d 228.

Responsibility of noncustodial divorced parent to pay for, or contribute to, costs of child's college education, 99 A.L.R.3d 322.