Proceedings for a person with a mental illness subject to court order pursuant to sections 5122.11 to 5122.15 of the Revised Code shall be commenced by the filing of an affidavit in the manner prescribed by the department of mental health and addiction services and in a form prescribed in section 5122.111 of the Revised Code, by any person or persons with the probate court, either on reliable information or actual knowledge, whichever is determined to be proper by the court. This section does not apply to the hospitalization of a person pursuant to section 2945.39, 2945.40, 2945.401, or 2945.402 of the Revised Code.

Terms Used In Ohio Code 5122.11

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • Court: means the probate division of the court of common pleas. See Ohio Code 5122.01
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Hospital: means a hospital or inpatient unit licensed by the department of mental health and addiction services under section 5119. See Ohio Code 5122.01
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Licensed clinical psychologist: means a person who holds a current, valid psychologist license issued under section 4732. See Ohio Code 5122.01
  • Licensed physician: means a person licensed under the laws of this state to practice medicine or a medical officer of the government of the United States while in this state in the performance of the person's official duties. See Ohio Code 5122.01
  • Mental illness: means a substantial disorder of thought, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that grossly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life. See Ohio Code 5122.01
  • Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • Person with a mental illness subject to court order: means a person with a mental illness who, because of the person's illness:

    (1) Represents a substantial risk of physical harm to self as manifested by evidence of threats of, or attempts at, suicide or serious self-inflicted bodily harm;

    (2) Represents a substantial risk of physical harm to others as manifested by evidence of recent homicidal or other violent behavior, evidence of recent threats that place another in reasonable fear of violent behavior and serious physical harm, or other evidence of present dangerousness;

    (3) Represents a substantial and immediate risk of serious physical impairment or injury to self as manifested by evidence that the person is unable to provide for and is not providing for the person's basic physical needs because of the person's mental illness and that appropriate provision for those needs cannot be made immediately available in the community;

    (4) Would benefit from treatment for the person's mental illness and is in need of such treatment as manifested by evidence of behavior that creates a grave and imminent risk to substantial rights of others or the person;

    (5)(a) Would benefit from treatment as manifested by evidence of behavior that indicates all of the following:

    (i) The person is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision, based on a clinical determination. See Ohio Code 5122.01

  • Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Prosecutor: means the prosecuting attorney, village solicitor, city director of law, or similar chief legal officer who prosecuted a criminal case in which a person was found not guilty by reason of insanity, who would have had the authority to prosecute a criminal case against a person if the person had not been found incompetent to stand trial, or who prosecuted a case in which a person was found guilty. See Ohio Code 5122.01
  • Psychiatrist: means a licensed physician who has satisfactorily completed a residency training program in psychiatry, as approved by the residency review committee of the American medical association, the committee on post-graduate education of the American osteopathic association, or the American osteopathic board of neurology and psychiatry, or who on July 1, 1989, has been recognized as a psychiatrist by the Ohio state medical association or the Ohio osteopathic association on the basis of formal training and five or more years of medical practice limited to psychiatry. See Ohio Code 5122.01
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.

The affidavit shall contain an allegation setting forth the specific category or categories under division (B) of section 5122.01 of the Revised Code upon which the jurisdiction of the court is based and a statement of alleged facts sufficient to indicate probable cause to believe that the person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order. The affidavit may be accompanied, or the court may require that the affidavit be accompanied, by a certificate of a psychiatrist, or a certificate signed by a licensed clinical psychologist and a certificate signed by a licensed physician stating that the person who issued the certificate has examined the person and is of the opinion that the person is a person with a mental illness subject to court order, or shall be accompanied by a written statement by the applicant, under oath, that the person has refused to submit to an examination by a psychiatrist, or by a licensed clinical psychologist and licensed physician.

With regard to a defendant described in division (B)(1)(a)(v)(I) of section 2945.38 of the Revised Code for whom criminal charges were dismissed, the affidavit shall contain a space for the trial court or prosecutor filing the affidavit to indicate that the person named in the affidavit is such a defendant.

Upon receipt of the affidavit, if a judge of the court or a referee who is an attorney at law appointed by the court has probable cause to believe that the person named in the affidavit is a person with a mental illness subject to court order, the judge or referee may issue a temporary order of detention ordering any health or police officer or sheriff to take into custody and transport the person to a hospital or other place designated in section 5122.17 of the Revised Code, or may set the matter for further hearing. If a temporary order of detention is issued and the person is transported to a hospital or other designated place, the court that issued the order shall retain jurisdiction over the case as it relates to the person’s outpatient treatment, notwithstanding that the hospital or other designated place to which the person is transported is outside the territorial jurisdiction of the court.

The person may be observed and treated until the hearing provided for in section 5122.141 of the Revised Code. If no such hearing is held, the person may be observed and treated until the hearing provided for in section 5122.15 of the Revised Code.

The Legislative Service Commission presents the text of this section as a composite of the section as amended by multiple acts of the General Assembly. This presentation recognizes the principle stated in R.C. 1.52(B) that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation.

Last updated March 15, 2023 at 5:21 PM

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