duistatelaws.com Key takeaways
- Georgia charges DUI under one section, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391, which covers both DUI less safe and DUI per se at 0.08.
- The State Court of Fulton County presides over all criminal cases below the grade of felony, and the county names DUI among them. It has ten judges.
- The case is started by the Solicitor-General, who files it with the Clerk. A felony DUI goes to the Superior Court.
- 30 days to request the license hearing, and the request must come with a $150 filing fee.
- The City of Atlanta lies in two counties, Fulton and DeKalb. An arrest on the DeKalb side is not a Fulton County case.
- A Georgia DUI conviction cannot be restricted or sealed, and the ten-year window for priors runs from arrest dates.
from the date you were served with the notice to demand a hearing from Georgia Department of Driver Services. The request goes to DDS, not to the court, and no judge in Fulton County will make it for you. O.C.G.A. § 40-5-67.1(g)(1).
Georgia calls the offense DUI, under O.C.G.A. section 40-6-391. The one section covers both DUI per se, driving at or above 0.08, and DUI less safe, driving while under the influence to the extent that it is less safe to drive — a definition the statute writes without any number in it.
What is specific to Atlanta is the court structure and a map problem. A misdemeanor DUI goes to the State Court of Fulton County and is brought by the Solicitor-General. And the City of Atlanta does not fit inside Fulton County.
The same diagram as a table
| Step | Criminal case — decided by a court | License case — decided by a state agency |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrest and booking, hour 0 | Notice of suspension served, day 0 |
| 2 | Charge filed by the prosecutor | Deadline to demand a hearing: 7 to 30 days in the eight states on this site that use an agency hearing |
| 3 | First court setting, on a date the court picks | Hearing held if the request was filed — whether the suspension waits for the ruling is set by each state's statute |
| 4 | One or more pretrial settings | Suspension takes effect automatically with no hearing |
| 5 | Trial, plea or dismissal | — |
| Clock | Weeks to months. No filing deadline runs against the driver. | Counted in days from the notice, and fixed by statute. |
Which Fulton County court hears an Atlanta DUI
Two Fulton County trial courts matter here, and the line between them is the felony line. The State Court presides over all criminal cases below the grade of felony, which in Georgia covers the first three DUI convictions in ten years. The Superior Court, a court of general jurisdiction, takes the felony.
State Court of Fulton County — Criminal Division
- Hears
- Misdemeanors, including DUI
- Building
- State Court of Fulton County
- Address
- 185 Central Avenue SW, Atlanta, GA 30303
- Detail
- The county states the court presides over all criminal cases below the grade of felony, and that it has ten judges elected to four-year terms
- Phone
- 404-613-5040
- Why it matters
- The county states that a case is initiated here when the Solicitor General accuses a person of an offense by filing a document with the Clerk’s Office. Driving Under the Influence is the first offense on its list.
Superior Court of Fulton County
- Hears
- Felony DUI
- Building
- Superior Court of Fulton County
- Address
- 136 Pryor Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303
- Detail
- A trial court of general jurisdiction handling both civil and criminal actions. Fulton County alone constitutes the Atlanta Judicial Circuit
- Hours
- Court Administrator public business hours 8:30am to 5pm
- Why it matters
- A fourth conviction inside the ten-year window is a felony under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391(c), and that is where it goes.
The county states that a criminal case is initiated in State Court when the Solicitor General accuses a person of an offense by filing a document with the Clerk’s Office. The arrest and the citation come first; the State Court case itself is the Solicitor-General’s filing.
The State Court was established by the Georgia legislature in 1913 and has ten judges, each elected to a four-year term. Its criminal division oversees the prosecution of misdemeanor crimes, including traffic offenses, committed in Fulton County; a civil division tries serious civil litigation alongside it. The county’s list of the criminal offenses a State Court case can be initiated for puts Driving Under the Influence first, ahead of theft, violent crimes, traffic infractions and ordinance violations.
The Superior Court of Fulton County sits at 136 Pryor Street SW. Fulton County on its own constitutes the Atlanta Judicial Circuit, so the Superior Court bench is the county’s alone rather than shared with a neighbour. A DUI reaches it as a felony: under section 40-6-391(c) a fourth conviction inside the ten-year window is one.
Not sure which court your case is in?
Enter the ZIP code where the arrest happened and the full form opens with it filled in.
The first thirty days, and the choice inside them
Georgia’s window to act on the license, thirty days, matches Arizona’s and South Carolina’s as the longest agency window on this site, and the request carries a $150 filing fee. After a test at or above the limit, or a refusal, the officer serves notice of the suspension. Under section 40-5-67.1(g)(1) the written request for a hearing has to reach Georgia Department of Driver Services within 30 days, accompanied by a $150 filing fee. No fee, no hearing. The hearing concerns the license only, and it runs apart from anything at 185 Central Avenue.
There is a second route, and taking it is itself the decision. Instead of the hearing, a driver can apply for an ignition interlock device limited driving permit under section 40-5-64.1, and the statute treats that application as a waiver of the right to the hearing. The permit keeps you driving with a device on the car; it also gives up the proceeding in which the stop would have been examined. The choice has the same thirty-day fuse.
The criminal side meanwhile begins when the Solicitor-General files in State Court. If the arrest happened on the City of Atlanta’s DeKalb side, none of the Fulton addresses on this page apply — but the license deadline is exactly the same, because it is state law and runs from the notice rather than from any court.
| What happened | First time | With a prior | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Convicted, first in five years | 12 months | — | O.C.G.A. § 40-5-63(a)(1) |
| Convicted, second in five years | — | 3 years | O.C.G.A. § 40-5-63(a)(2) |
| Refused the test | 1 year | — | O.C.G.A. § 40-5-67.1(d) |
What the Solicitor-General is working with
The penalty ladder is statewide and is laid out conviction by conviction on the Georgia DUI law page. A first conviction carries 10 days to 12 months in jail — of which the judge may suspend all but 24 hours where the test read 0.08 or more — a fine of $300 to $1,000, and 40 hours of community service. Every level of the ladder also carries a DUI Risk Reduction Program within 120 days, with a clinical evaluation and treatment where the evaluation calls for it.
Two statewide rules change the stakes more than the sentence does. The ten-year window for counting priors is measured from the dates of the earlier arrests, not the convictions, so the question is when the last arrest happened rather than when it was resolved. And a Georgia DUI conviction cannot be restricted or sealed: section 35-3-37 excludes it. The expungement guide sets that exclusion against the other five states.
The contrast with Texas is worth a line, because the offices sound alike. In Dallas County the District Attorney’s office handles misdemeanor DWI as well as felonies. In Fulton County the misdemeanor DUI belongs to the Solicitor-General, whose office is at 160 Pryor Street SW.
DUI cases across metro Atlanta
The courts on this page are Fulton County courts, and metro Atlanta is more than one county. Before any of the addresses above matter, the question is which county the stop was in — and in Atlanta the answer can be “not Fulton” even inside the city.
| Situation | County | Where the case goes |
|---|---|---|
| City of Atlanta, Fulton County side | Fulton | Fulton County — State Court for a misdemeanor if it is filed there |
| City of Atlanta, DeKalb County side | DeKalb | Not a Fulton County court |
| The other fourteen cities Fulton County lists, Alpharetta to Union City | Fulton, at least in part | Fulton County for the part inside Fulton |
The city and the county are not the same shape. The flood insurance study DeKalb County publishes states that the City of Atlanta is located in Fulton and DeKalb Counties, and the Fulton State Court states that its criminal division handles misdemeanors committed in Fulton County. Which municipal courts take a DUI citation is not stated here: the City of Atlanta’s site could not be read.
The table stops where the sourcing stops. It does not say which municipal courts take a DUI citation, because the City of Atlanta’s own site refused every request made while this page was written, and that is not a question to answer from memory. The citation names the court you are summoned to, and that outranks any table.
The other cities on this site show how differently the same question plays out: Dallas has a suburb reaching into three counties, and San Diego keeps everything in one county and splits it by city limits instead.
Common questions about Atlanta DUI cases
Who prosecutes an Atlanta DUI?
For a misdemeanor DUI in Fulton County, the Solicitor-General. The county states that a State Court criminal case is initiated when the Solicitor General accuses a person by filing a document with the Clerk's Office. The office is at 160 Pryor Street SW, Suite J-301, and lists 404-612-4800.
Which court hears a DUI from an Atlanta arrest?
On the Fulton County side, a misdemeanor goes to the State Court of Fulton County at 185 Central Avenue SW, which presides over all criminal cases below the grade of felony. A felony DUI goes to the Superior Court of Fulton County at 136 Pryor Street SW. An arrest on the DeKalb County side of the city is not a Fulton County case.
How long do I have to request a license hearing in Georgia?
Thirty days, under O.C.G.A. section 40-5-67.1(g)(1), and the written request must come with a $150 filing fee. It goes to the Georgia Department of Driver Services, not to State Court. Applying instead for an ignition interlock limited driving permit under section 40-5-64.1 is treated as a waiver of that hearing.
Is all of Atlanta in Fulton County?
No. The flood insurance study published by DeKalb County states that the City of Atlanta is located in Fulton and DeKalb Counties. The State Court of Fulton County handles misdemeanors committed in Fulton County, so an arrest on the DeKalb side does not go to the Fulton County courts.
When does a Georgia DUI become a felony?
At the fourth conviction inside the ten-year window, under O.C.G.A. section 40-6-391(c), with the window measured from the dates of the earlier arrests. The first three are misdemeanors — the third a high and aggravated one — and all three are below the grade of felony, which is the State Court's jurisdiction.
Can a Georgia DUI conviction be sealed later?
No. O.C.G.A. section 35-3-37 excludes DUI convictions from record restriction, so the conviction stays on the criminal record. The expungement guide on this site sets out how each of the six states it covers treats a DUI conviction.
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More for Georgia
- Georgia DUI law — the full penalty matrix, the statutes, and the rules on priors and interlock
- Savannah and Chatham County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Marietta and Cobb County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Columbus and Muscogee County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Gwinnett County — the same state, a different courthouse problem
- Refusing a breathalyzer — what implied consent costs here against what it buys
- How long it stays on your record — three records, three clocks
- SR-22 insurance after a Georgia suspension — what the filing certifies and how long it runs
- Ignition interlock providers and costs in Georgia — what the device costs and who installs it
Sources
- Fulton County, State Court — read September 22, 2026
- Superior Court of Fulton County — read September 22, 2026
- Fulton County, Solicitor-General — read September 22, 2026
- Fulton County, cities in Fulton County — read September 22, 2026
- DeKalb County, Flood Insurance Study, vol. 1 (FEMA), community description — read September 22, 2026
- O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391(a)(5) and the rest of the Georgia statutes cited on this page — read reproduction current as of 2024-03-28
Court addresses, hours and phone numbers were read from each court’s or office’s own published page on September 22, 2026. Those change without notice; confirm before you rely on them. No judge is named anywhere on this page, because a roster is exactly the kind of detail that goes stale silently.