Elder abuse in Georgia is a felony in almost every form it takes. State law criminalizes the physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, unreasonable confinement, and financial exploitation of anyone 65 or older, as well as any disabled adult 18 or older, with penalties reaching 20 years in prison and $50,000 in fines. If you suspect someone is being harmed, you report it to Adult Protective Services at 1-866-552-4464 for people living at home, or to the Department of Community Health at 1-800-878-6442 if the person lives in a nursing home, personal care home, or similar facility. Call 911 first if the danger is immediate.
Who Georgia’s Laws Protect
Two groups are covered under O.C.G.A. 30-5-3. An “elder person” is anyone 65 or older who does not live in a long-term care facility. A “disabled adult” is anyone 18 or older who is mentally or physically incapacitated, or who has Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, and who also lives outside a facility.
Residents of nursing homes, personal care homes, and community living arrangements are protected through a separate system run by the Department of Community Health rather than by Adult Protective Services. The distinction controls where you report, so it matters before you pick up the phone.
What Counts as Abuse, Neglect, or Exploitation
Georgia law splits mistreatment into three categories, and each has its own statutory definition.
Abuse
Under O.C.G.A. 30-5-3, abuse is the willful infliction of physical pain, physical injury, sexual abuse, mental anguish, or unreasonable confinement, as well as the willful deprivation of essential services. Hitting, restraining, threatening, isolating, and verbally tormenting an elder or disabled adult all fall inside that definition. Sexual abuse is specifically included and covers coerced sexual contact by someone with custody or supervisory authority over the victim.
Neglect
Neglect is defined separately: the absence of essential services to a degree that harms or threatens the physical or emotional health of an elder or disabled adult. O.C.G.A. 16-5-101 makes it a crime for a guardian or person with custody to willfully deprive an elder of health care, shelter, or necessary sustenance to the point that health or well-being is jeopardized. A caregiver can face neglect charges even without any intent to cause harm, so long as the deprivation itself is willful.
Exploitation
Exploitation is the illegal or improper use of an elder person, disabled adult, or their resources through undue influence, coercion, harassment, deception, or false pretenses for someone else’s profit. Draining a bank account, forging signatures, pressuring a person with dementia to change a will, and misusing a power of attorney are common examples. Georgia sets no dollar threshold; any knowing and willful exploitation is a felony from the first act.
How to Report Suspected Abuse
You do not need proof. The reporting standard is “reasonable cause to believe” that abuse, neglect, or exploitation is occurring. Anyone can make a report, not only mandatory reporters.
For an elder or disabled adult living at home or in another community setting, call Adult Protective Services Central Intake at 1-866-552-4464, or 404-657-5250 in metropolitan Atlanta. You can also file a report at any hour through the Division of Aging Services website. If you leave voicemail after business hours, include detailed contact information; staff return messages the next business day. Web reports and voicemails are not accepted for investigation until intake staff follow up, so call back during business hours if you have not heard anything within 48 hours.
For suspected abuse inside a nursing facility, personal care home, or community living arrangement, contact the Department of Community Health’s Healthcare Facility Regulation division at 1-800-878-6442 or file a complaint through the DCH website.
If the person is in immediate danger, call 911. Adult Protective Services is not a first responder and cannot intervene the way law enforcement can.
For financial fraud targeting people 60 and older, the federal government also runs the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-372-8311, staffed seven days a week from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern, with English, Spanish, and other language support.
What Happens After You Report
Once the Division of Aging Services receives a report, APS opens an investigation under O.C.G.A. 30-5-5. The investigation must be prompt and thorough and includes a visit to the person and interviews with people who know the facts. The director must send written acknowledgment to the reporter within ten days.
APS workers assess the situation, judge the level of risk, and put together a safety plan. If someone blocks access to the elder during the investigation, APS can petition a court for an order requiring access and prohibiting interference. When danger is imminent, the director can seek an ex parte order from a probate or superior court judge requiring the caretaker to allow an APS employee in immediately.
When protective services are already in place and someone interferes with them, APS can petition for a court order authorizing continued services. The department can also petition for guardianship in probate court under Chapters 4 and 5 of Title 29 when nothing else adequately protects the victim.
Who Is Required to Report
Under O.C.G.A. 30-5-4, several groups must report suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation:
- Anyone already required to report child abuse, plus physical therapists, occupational therapists, EMTs, paramedics, first responders, coroners, and medical examiners
- Day-care personnel and employees of any public or private agency providing health-related services to elders or disabled adults
- Clergy members
- Employees of financial institutions and investment companies, who must report suspected exploitation (this obligation does not apply when the employee is acting in a fiduciary capacity over the assets in question)
Reports go to the adult protection agency designated by the Department of Human Services and to an appropriate law enforcement agency or prosecutor. A mandatory reporter who knowingly and willfully fails to report faces misdemeanor charges under O.C.G.A. 30-5-8, and each failure counts as a separate offense.
Anyone who reports in good faith, testifies in resulting proceedings, or participates in an investigation is immune from civil liability and criminal prosecution. That immunity extends to the content of the information communicated and covers the reporter’s employer, provided the employer had no reason to believe the report was made in bad faith.
Criminal Penalties
Georgia treats these offenses as felonies from the start, with no misdemeanor tier for the underlying conduct.
Under O.C.G.A. 16-5-102, anyone who knowingly and willfully exploits, physically harms, sexually abuses, or unreasonably confines a disabled adult, elder person, or long-term care facility resident faces one to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $50,000, or both. The same range applies whether the case involves a single act of financial exploitation or a pattern of physical abuse.
O.C.G.A. 16-5-101 sets an identical sentencing range for criminal neglect: one to 20 years and up to $50,000 in fines for a guardian or caretaker who willfully deprives an elder or disabled adult of health care, shelter, or necessary sustenance.
Georgia also punishes efforts to derail investigations. Threatening or intimidating an abuse victim or anyone cooperating with an investigation is a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature under O.C.G.A. 16-5-102(b). Willfully obstructing or impeding an elder abuse investigation carries the same charge under subsection (c). In Georgia, a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature can bring up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
Civil Lawsuits by Victims and Families
Criminal prosecution is not the only route. O.C.G.A. 51-1-6 establishes a general right to recover damages when someone breaches a legal duty and that breach causes harm. An elder abuse victim can sue for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and other losses flowing from the abuse.
Punitive damages are also possible. Under O.C.G.A. 51-12-5.1, a court can award them when the defendant’s actions showed willful misconduct, malice, fraud, or a conscious indifference to consequences, proven by clear and convincing evidence. For most tort cases outside product liability, punitive damages are capped at $250,000. If the defendant acted with specific intent to cause harm, there is no cap.
Timing matters. Under O.C.G.A. 9-3-33, personal injury claims in Georgia must generally be filed within two years of when the right of action accrues. Waiting too long can permanently bar a civil claim even when the underlying conduct was clearly wrongful.
For financial exploitation involving Social Security benefits, a representative payee who misuses a beneficiary’s funds must repay the misused amount and faces federal criminal penalties including fines and imprisonment.