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2022 Georgia Code
Title 19 - Domestic Relations
Chapter 8 - Adoption
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 19-8-20. Forwarding of Decree, Report, and Subsequent Orders to Department; Issuance of Adoption Certificate; Use as Evidence

Universal Citation: GA Code § 19-8-20 (2022)
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  1. Upon the entry of the decree of adoption, the clerk of the court granting the same shall forward a copy of the decree, together with the original of the investigation report and background information filed with the court, to the department.  If there is any subsequent order or revocation of the adoption, a copy of same in like manner shall be forwarded by the clerk to the department.
  2. At any time after the entry of the decree of adoption, upon the request of an adopted individual who has reached 18 years of age or upon the request of any adopting parent, the clerk of the court granting the decree shall issue to that requesting adopted individual or adopting parent a certificate of adoption, under the seal of the court, upon payment to the clerk of the fee prescribed in paragraph (4) of subsection (g) of Code Section 15-6-77, which adoption certificate shall be received as evidence in any court or proceeding as primary evidence of the facts contained in the certificate.
  3. The adoption certificate shall conform substantially to the following form:

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“This is to certify that (names of each adopting parent) have obtained a decree of adoption for (full name of adoptee and date of birth of adoptee) in the Superior Court of County, Georgia, on the day of ,as shown by the court’s records (adoption file number). Given under the hand and seal of said court, this the day of , . Clerk ”

History. Code 1981, § 19-8-20 , enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 1572, § 5; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1324, § 4; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1640, § 8; Ga. L. 2018, p. 19, § 1-1/HB 159; Ga. L. 2020, p. 493, § 19/SB 429.

The 2018 amendment, effective September 1, 2018, inserted a comma following “the adoption” in the middle of the second sentence of subsection (a); substituted “individual” for “person” twice in subsection (b); in subsection (c), substituted “shall conform substantially to” for “shall be in substantially” in the introductory paragraph, inserted quotes around the form, and substituted “adoptee and date of birth of adoptee” for “adopted child” in the middle of the form.

The 2020 amendment, effective July 29, 2020, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation in subsection (c).

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