{"data":{"id":"us-ga/o.c.g.a.-37-3-61","jurisdiction":"us-ga","citation":"O.C.G.A. § 37-3-61","heading":"Initiation of proceedings for court ordered evaluation.","body":"Proceedings for a court ordered evaluation may be initiated in the following manner:\n(1) Any person may file an application executed under oath with the community mental health center for a court ordered evaluation of a person located within that county who is alleged by such application to be a mentally ill person requiring involuntary treatment. Upon the filing of such application, the community mental health center shall make a preliminary investigation and, if the investigation shows that there is probable cause to believe that such allegation is true, it shall file a petition with the court in the county where the patient is located seeking an involuntary admission for evaluation; and\n(2) Any person may file with the court a petition executed under oath alleging that a person within the county is a mentally ill person requiring involuntary treatment. The petition must be accompanied by the certificate of a physician or psychologist stating that he has examined the patient within the preceding five days and has found that the patient may be a mentally ill person requiring involuntary treatment and that a full evaluation of the patient is necessary.","path":["TITLE 37 Mental Health","CHAPTER 3 Examination, Treatment, etc., for Mental Illness","Article 3 Examination, Hospitalization, and Treatment of Involuntary Patients","PART 2 Evaluating Facilities for Examination of Persons Ordered to Undergo Evaluation for Mental Illness"],"source_url":"https://archive.org/download/gov.ga.ocga.2018/release86.2022.11/gov.ga.ocga.title.37.odt","current_through":"Release 86 (2022-11)","vintage":"Public.Resource.Org bulk O.C.G.A., Release 86 (2022-11), retrieved 2026-09-17","retrieved_at":"2026-09-17T19:34:57Z","sha256":"4fdf7b30d715d5b1c1d62c7ea74ce9fb13167e26f93803eb6f61903d16547fdd","source_id":"us-ga","stale":false,"prev":"us-ga/o.c.g.a.-37-3-60","next":"us-ga/o.c.g.a.-37-3-62"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}