§ 7612. Application for involuntary treatment

(a) An interested party may, by filing a written application, commence proceedings for the involuntary treatment of an individual by judicial process.

(b) The application shall be filed in the Family Division of the Superior Court.

(c) If the application is filed under section 7508 or 7620 of this title, it shall be filed in the unit of the Family Division of the Superior Court in which the hospital is located. In all other cases, it shall be filed in the unit in which the proposed patient resides. In the case of a nonresident, it may be filed in any unit. The court may change the venue of the proceeding to the unit in which the proposed patient is located at the time of the trial.

(d) The application shall contain:

(1) The name and address of the applicant.

(2) A statement of the current and relevant facts upon which the allegation of mental illness and need for treatment is based. The application shall be signed by the applicant under penalty of perjury.

(e) The application shall be accompanied by:

(1) a certificate of a licensed physician, which shall be executed under penalty of perjury stating that he or she has examined the proposed patient within five days of the date the petition is filed and is of the opinion that the proposed patient is a person in need of treatment, including the current and relevant facts and circumstances upon which the physician's opinion is based; or

(2) a written statement by the applicant that the proposed patient refused to submit to an examination by a licensed physician.

(f) Before an examining physician completes the certificate of examination, he or she shall consider available alternative forms of care and treatment that might be adequate to provide for the person's needs without requiring hospitalization. The examining physician shall document on the certificate the specific alternative forms of care and treatment that he or she considered and why those alternatives were deemed inappropriate, including information on the availability of any appropriate alternatives. (Added 1977, No. 252 (Adj. Sess.), § 19; amended 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 238; 2013, No. 192 (Adj. Sess.), § 9.)