O.C.G.A. § 49-3-8

Any county department of family and children services, at the discretion of the county director, may destroy public assistance case records which have been inactive for three years or more, as well as related statistical and financial forms and reports. A record must be retained beyond the three-year period as long as a federal or state audit of that record is in progress, or if an audit’s findings have not been resolved, or if the case in question is the subject of pending administrative or judicial litigation.