§ 19-11-23.Authority of district attorneys
Chapter 11. Enforcement of Duty of Support · Article 1. Child Support Recovery Act · Last amended 1992 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-11-23
Plain-English Summary
This section lets the Department of Human Services call on Georgia’s district attorneys. District attorneys may give the department whatever assistance it requests, and they may file and prosecute civil or criminal actions on the department’s behalf in any Georgia court or any federal court, as necessary to ensure proper enforcement of the Child Support Recovery Act.
Subsection (b) defines the relationship. When a district attorney acts under this section, he or she represents the department, and the department is the district attorney’s sole client. That matters to the parents in the case. The parent who is owed support may be the reason the case exists, but that parent is not the district attorney’s client, and neither is the parent who owes support. A parent who wants advice about his or her own interests needs separate counsel, particularly on issues like custody or visitation, which § 19-11-8(d) keeps out of support actions the department brings under that section.
The authority is permissive. District attorneys are authorized, not required, to assist, and the department decides what help to request. The section doesn’t define any crime; whether a criminal case fits a given set of facts depends on other laws. The section was last amended in 1992.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the district attorney my lawyer in my Georgia child support case?
No. When a district attorney acts under this section, he or she represents the Department of Human Services, and the department is the sole client. That holds even though the case concerns support owed to you or your child. If you want legal advice about your own interests, including issues outside support, you would need a lawyer of your own.
Can a Georgia district attorney bring a criminal case for unpaid child support?
Yes, on the department’s behalf. This section authorizes district attorneys to file and prosecute civil or criminal actions for the department as necessary to ensure proper enforcement of the Child Support Recovery Act. Whether a criminal case is brought in a given situation depends on the facts and on other laws that define the offense, which this section doesn’t set out.
Can the district attorney take a child support case to federal court?
Yes. The section authorizes district attorneys to file and prosecute civil or criminal actions on the department’s behalf in any of the courts of Georgia or of the United States. The test is whether the action is necessary to ensure proper enforcement of the article, and the department remains the client wherever the case is filed.
Will the district attorney help me with custody or visitation in a child support case?
Not through a department case. Under § 19-11-8(d), any action the department starts under that section is limited to support and excludes visitation, custody, property settlement and similar matters. And when the district attorney acts under this section, the department is the only client, so custody and visitation questions fall outside that representation.
Does the district attorney have to take every child support case the department refers?
This section doesn’t require it. District attorneys are authorized to give the assistance the department requests and to bring actions as necessary for enforcement. The wording grants authority rather than imposing a duty to take any particular case, and the department controls what help it asks for.
Amendment History
Laws 1977, p. 722, § 1; Laws 1983, p. 1816, § 3; Laws 1989, p. 861, § 7; Laws 1992, p. 1833, § 5.