Section 29-5-120. Petition for removal; prerequisites

   (a) A conservator may petition to remove the conservatorship to the jurisdiction of the court of the county in this state in which the ward resides.

(b) Upon the filing of a petition to remove the conservatorship to another county in this state, the court shall appoint a guardian ad litem for the ward. The court of the county in which the conservator was appointed shall grant the petition for removal only if the court determines that the removal is in the best interest of the ward.

(c) Before the removal of the conservatorship to another county in this state, the conservator must give bond and good security to the court of such county as if the conservator had been first appointed by that court, and a certificate to this effect shall be filed in the court in which the conservator was appointed. The conservator shall file with the court of the county to which the conservatorship is to be removed certified copies of all the records pertaining to the conservatorship.

(d) Following removal of a conservatorship to another county in this state, the court to which the conservatorship is removed shall have the same jurisdiction over the conservator as if the conservator had been first appointed in that county, and every case growing out of or affecting the conservatorship shall be heard and tried only in the county to which the conservatorship has been removed.

(e) The sureties on the conservator's first bond shall be liable only for misconduct of the conservator up until the giving of new bond and security. The sureties on the new bond shall be liable for both past and future misconduct of the conservator.

(f) The court in which an action or proceeding is pending or which has issued an order for a settlement of accounts, removal, or sanction of a conservator shall retain jurisdiction of such matters even though the conservatorship has been removed to another county.

Code 1981, § 29-5-120, enacted by Ga. L. 2004, p. 161, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 60, § 29/HB 95.