A protective order from another state is enforceable in Georgia without your doing anything to register it here.
What Counts as a Foreign Protective Order
OCGA 19-13-51(3) defines a “foreign protective order” as “any temporary order of protection, order of protection, restraining order, injunction, pretrial release order, or sentencing order that prohibits contact, acts of family violence, or stalking issued by a foreign court.” A “foreign court” under OCGA 19-13-51(2) is a court in any other state, or in any United States territory or tribal jurisdiction. So the category is broader than the family violence orders Georgia itself issues – a criminal no-contact condition from another state can qualify.
Filing a Copy Is Optional and Free
You may file a certified copy of the order with the clerk of any superior court in Georgia. Under OCGA 19-13-54(b), “[f]iling shall be without fee or cost.” The clerk gives you a receipt proving you submitted it and transmits a copy to the Georgia Protective Order Registry, which under OCGA 19-13-52 is linked to the National Crime Information Center network so officers and courts can see it around the clock. OCGA 19-13-54(e) provides that a foreign order does not have to be on a Georgia standardized form to go into the registry.
Enforcement Does Not Depend on Filing
OCGA 19-13-54(f) states that filing and registry “shall not be prerequisites for enforcement of the foreign protective order in this state,” and OCGA 19-13-53(e) says the same about registry entry generally. Filing is worth doing anyway, because an officer who can pull the order up is in a better position to act on it than one who has to take your word for it.
Contact Us
This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!