Georgia § 9-12-60 - When judgment becomes dormant; how dormancy prevented; docketing; applicability.

§ 9-12-60. When judgment becomes dormant; how dormancy prevented; docketing; applicability.

A judgment shall become dormant and shall not be enforced: When seven years shall elapse after the rendition of the judgment before execution is issued thereon and is entered on the general execution docket of the county in which the judgment was rendered; Unless entry is made on the execution by an officer authorized to levy and return the same and the entry and the date thereof are entered by the clerk on the general execution docket within seven years after issuance of the execution and its record; or Unless a bona fide public effort on the part of the plaintiff in execution to enforce the execution in the courts is made and due written notice of such effort specifying the time of the institution of the action or proceedings, the nature thereof, the names of the parties thereto, and the name of the court in which it is pending is filed by the plaintiff in execution or his attorney at law with the clerk and is entered by the clerk on the general execution docket, all at such times and periods that seven years will not elapse between such entries of such notices or between such an entry and a proper entry made as prescribed in paragraph (2) of this subsection. The record of the execution made as prescribed in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Code section or of every entry as prescribed in paragraph (2) or (3) of subsection (a) of this Code section shall institute a new seven-year period within which the judgment shall not become dormant, provided that when an entry on the execution or a written notice of public effort is filed for record, the execution shall be recorded or rerecorded on the general execution docket with all entries thereon. It shall not be necessary in order to prevent dormancy that such execution be entered or such entry be recorded on any other docket. When an entry on an execution or a written notice of public effort is filed for record and the original execution is recorded in a general execution docket other than the current general execution docket, the original execution shall be rerecorded in the current general execution docket with all entries thereon. When an original execution is so rerecorded, a notation shall be made upon the original execution which states that it has been rerecorded and gives the book and page number where the execution has been rerecorded. When an original execution is so rerecorded in the current general execution docket, it shall be indexed in the current general execution docket in the same manner as if it were an original execution. Nothing in this subsection shall affect the priority of any judgment or lien; and no judgment or lien shall lose any priority because an execution is rerecorded. The provisions of subsection (a) of this Code section shall not apply to judgments or orders for child support or spousal support. (Laws 1823, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 498; Ga. L. 1855-56, p. 233, § 8; Code 1863, § 2855; Code 1868, § 2863; Code 1873, § 2914; Code 1882, § 2914; Ga. L. 1884-85, p. 95, § 1; Civil Code 1895, §§ 3761, 3762, 3763; Ga. L. 1910, p. 121, § 1; Civil Code 1910, §§ 4355, 4356, 4357; Ga. L. 1920, p. 81, §§ 1, 3; Code 1933, § 110-1001; Ga. L. 1955, p. 417, § 1; Ga. L. 1965, p. 272, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 9; Ga. L. 1984, p. 912, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1613, § 2.) Law reviews. - For article commenting on the 1997 amendment of this Code section, see 14 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 121 (1997). For note discussing the procedure for the issuance and amendment of a writ of execution, see 12 Ga. L. Rev. 814 (1978). For comment as to applicability of dormancy and revival statutes to alimony judgments, in light of Bryant v. Bryant, 232 Ga. 160 , 205 S.E.2d 223 (1974), see 26 Mercer L. Rev. 356 (1974).