§ 19-11-59.Payment of district attorney’s fee

The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgia. It paid the district attorney’s fee under the article on receipt of a payment order approved by the state information agency, using funds appropriated for the operation of the district attorneys.

Two things. Under § 19-11-53(b), an order granting or denying support had to be entered first. Then the payment order had to be approved as to form by the state information agency — the Department of Human Services under § 19-11-58 — and forwarded to the Council, which paid on receipt.

From state funds. The section says payment is made from funds appropriated for the operation of the district attorneys, and § 19-11-56 has the court direct that the district attorney’s fee be paid by the state. The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council makes the payment once it receives the approved order.

Section 19-11-53(b) sets it at $50 for each petition handled, paid to the county where the petition is handled, whether Georgia is the initiating or the responding state. In counties where the superior court clerk is on a fee basis, the district attorney pays the clerk’s filing and service fees from that sum.

No. Section 19-11-40.1 closed Article 2 to new petitions and proceedings on January 1, 1998, and limits it to proceedings pending before then. Fees and costs in newer interstate cases are governed by § 19-11-132 in Article 3, the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act.