How to Fill Out a Georgia Criminal Trespass Warning Form

A Georgia criminal trespass warning letter is a dated written notice from a property owner, lawful occupant, or authorized representative telling a named person they are forbidden to enter or remain on a specific property. Once the person receives it, any knowing return is a misdemeanor under O.C.G.A. § 16-7-21, punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.¹² A verbal warning technically satisfies the statute, but a written letter you can prove was delivered is what makes the ban enforceable months or years later.

What to Put in the Letter

Georgia’s statute does not prescribe a form. It requires “notice,” and Georgia courts have read that to mean notice that is “reasonable under the circumstances” and “sufficiently explicit to apprise the trespasser what property the trespasser is forbidden to enter.”³ A letter that covers the following will meet that standard:

The recipient’s full legal name, so there is no ambiguity about who the ban applies to.
A description of the property. Use the street address, and if the parcel is large or has multiple buildings, describe the boundaries. State whether the ban covers parking lots, outbuildings, and surrounding land, or only the primary structure.
Clear prohibition language. Say plainly that the person is forbidden from entering or remaining on the property. The word “forbidden” tracks the statute itself.
The date the warning takes effect. This fixes the timeline for any later prosecution.
Your name and your relationship to the property — owner, occupant, or authorized representative. Property managers, security directors, and business managers can issue warnings on an owner’s behalf as long as they can show that authority.
A line citing O.C.G.A. § 16-7-21 and noting that returning after notice is a misdemeanor. This reinforces that the letter carries real consequences, not just displeasure.

Some Georgia sheriff’s offices and police departments keep their own trespass warning forms that officers complete on scene. If your local agency has one, ask for a blank copy. Using the department’s own format can smooth things along later if officers need to confirm your warning in their system. Any letter that covers the elements above will satisfy the statute, with or without an official template.

One point worth building into the letter when it applies: a minor living in a parent’s or guardian’s home cannot override a trespass warning the parent issued. If you ban someone and your child later invites that person over, your warning still controls and the return is still criminal trespass.

How to Deliver It So Delivery Is Provable

The statute requires that the person receive notice. Months from now, when the recipient shows up on your property and claims they never got the letter, your file has to answer that claim. Two delivery methods do that reliably.

In Person

Hand the letter directly to the recipient. Bring a witness who can later testify that the person took the document. Prepare a second copy and ask the recipient to sign and date it acknowledging receipt. If they refuse to sign, your witness’s account still establishes delivery. If the situation that prompted the warning brought police to the scene, ask the responding officer to serve the written notice and note the service in the report.

Certified Mail

Send the letter by certified mail with return receipt requested. The signed green card comes back to you with the recipient’s signature and the delivery date, creating a paper trail through the postal service. This is the method to use when you want to avoid a face-to-face encounter, or when the person is already off the property and you want to lock in the ban before they return.

Email and Text

Georgia’s statute does not list acceptable delivery methods beyond requiring that the person “receive” notice, and no Georgia appellate decision has squarely addressed whether email or text qualifies. Relying only on electronic delivery is a gamble: proving the person opened and read the message is harder than proving they signed for a certified letter. Use certified mail or in-person delivery as the main channel. If you also send a copy by email or text, treat it as backup.

Filing a Copy With Local Law Enforcement

After delivery, bring a copy of the letter and your proof of delivery to the police department or sheriff’s office with jurisdiction over the property. No Georgia statute requires this step, and not every agency logs trespass warnings in its own system. When an agency does accept the filing, responding officers can pull up the warning quickly during a later call rather than waiting for you to find your copy mid-incident.

Call ahead. Ask whether the agency accepts trespass warning filings and what they want to see — some want the original proof of service, others accept photocopies. Keep your own originals somewhere you can reach fast, like a locked drawer at the property, not a storage unit across town.

What Happens If They Come Back

Once a valid warning has been delivered, any knowing entry by that person is criminal trespass, a misdemeanor under O.C.G.A. § 16-7-21.¹ Georgia’s general misdemeanor sentence runs up to 12 months in jail, a fine up to $1,000, or both.²

Georgia law lets officers make a warrantless arrest when a crime happens in their presence or within their immediate knowledge.⁴ If police arrive and find the warned person still on your property, they can arrest on the spot. Georgia courts have upheld warrantless trespass arrests in exactly that scenario, including cases involving restaurant patrons and hotel guests who refused to leave after being told to go.

You do not have to issue a second warning or ask the person to leave again before calling police. The original letter is the complete notice the statute requires. If you can safely tell the person to leave and they go, you spare yourself a police response on your property; if they stay or come back, your file already has what the officer needs.

How Long the Warning Stays in Effect

Georgia’s criminal trespass statute sets no expiration date. Once delivered, a warning stays in effect until the property owner or authorized representative affirmatively revokes it. Some other states impose automatic one-year expirations; Georgia does not. Silence keeps the ban alive indefinitely.

To lift the ban, put the revocation in writing and deliver it to the same person using the same verifiable methods. If you filed the original warning with local law enforcement, send them the revocation too so their records match. Without a written revocation, the banned person risks arrest years later if they assume the warning has quietly expired.

When a Warning Won’t Work

A trespass warning is not a universal eviction tool. A few situations fall outside what the statute will support.

People With a Legal Right to Be on the Property

You cannot use a trespass warning to override a lease, contract, easement, or court order. Georgia courts have held that when someone has a legal contract giving them the right to occupy property, the owner cannot simply issue trespass notice to cut that right off.³ A landlord who wants a tenant out has to use the eviction process.

Public Accommodations

Businesses open to the public, such as hotels, restaurants, theaters, and gas stations, cannot use trespass warnings to discriminate. Title II of the Civil Rights Act guarantees equal access to public accommodations regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin.⁵ A business can still ban an individual for legitimate reasons — disruptive behavior, theft, harassment — but not on a protected characteristic. A warning issued on discriminatory grounds is unenforceable and exposes the business to a federal civil rights claim.

Government-Owned Property

Public property adds another layer. The government cannot use trespass law to suppress protected speech in traditional public forums like sidewalks and parks, and banning someone from a public building usually requires conduct-based justifications and some form of due process. If you manage government-owned property, run any proposed trespass warning past your agency’s legal counsel first.

1
Justia. Georgia Code 16-7-21 – Criminal Trespass
2
Justia. Georgia Code 17-10-3 – Punishment for Misdemeanors
3
Justia. Georgia Code 16-7-21 – Criminal Trespass
4
Justia. Georgia Code 17-4-20 – Authorization of Arrests With and Without Warrants
5
Department of Justice. Title II of the Civil Rights Act (Public Accommodations)