Atlanta Divorce Attorney Blog

Georgia is a “no-fault” divorce state, so you can get a divorce based solely on the grounds that the marriage is irretrievably broken. When a marriage is irretrievably broken, the parties are unable to work out the differences in their marriage and they feel that their only option is to file for divorce. The party that is filing for divorce is not blaming the other party for the break-up of their marriage and it is neither party’s fault that they are divorcing. In some cases, people may want the divorce over fairly quickly and/or feel it may upset their spouse and it could cause problems during the divorce process if they list anything except irretrievably broken as a grounds for divorce.

One of the disadvantages to claiming irreconcilable differences as the ground for divorce is that it may not encompass the real reason for the divorce. Even though a lot of the divorces end because of irreconcilable differences, there are some cases when it is the opposing party’s conduct or behavior that causes problems in the marriage. If someone decides to choose one of the “fault grounds” in Georgia, there are ten additional grounds for divorce that that they can choose from that are based on the past or present behavior of their spouse. These grounds fall into two separate categories – conduct at the time of marriage and conduct during the marriage, which are set forth below:

Continue reading " Grounds for a divorce in Georgia " »

Cobb County (Acworth, Austell, Kennesaw, Marietta, Powder Springs and Smyrna) offers its Divorcing Parents Seminar in order to help parties involved in a divorce with minor children met their mandatory parenting time seminar at the Cobb County Superior Court Building (Building D; 6th floor jury assembly room), 30 Waddle Street, Marietta, GA 30090.

Cobb County (like Gwinnett) also offer both a four hour weekday seminar (from 8:30 am to 1:00 p.m.) or two two-hour evening sessions (from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.). The cost of the seminar is currently $30.00 per person. You can find additional information and register online for these seminars at the Cobb County Divorcing Parents Seminar website.

The Georgia Supreme Court issued an order today in Pineres v. George, S08A0773, which has several implications for Georgia law. First, it held that a trial judge has no authority in a contempt proceeding to modify the obligations imposed by a divorce decree. Second, the Georgia Supreme Court held that medical expenses constitute a form a child support.

Of note in this case, the modification being sought was in regards to the psychological expenses for the minor child and there had previously been a petition for modification of child support made less than two years ago. Because Georgia law prohibits a modification of child support less than two years after an order on a previous modification petition by the same spouse, it upheld an awarded of frivolous litigation fees under O.C.G.A. § 9-15-14 against the spouse that was now seeking to modify the amount of medical expenses that they had to pay.

In some states, such as California, spouses can be legally separated from one another. Unfortunately, Georgia does not honor legal separations. If you and your spouse, however, wish to be separated, but do not wish to file for divorce, there is another option.

According to O.C.G.A. § 19-6-10, you can file what is called a separate maintenance action when there is no divorce action pending between spouses. A separate maintenance action is very similar to a divorce in that you and your spouse will enter into an agreement resolving all issues from who will have custody and visitation rights for minor children to how debts will be paid and the amount of alimony and child support that may be appropriate in a case. In short, all issues that could be addressed in a divorce can generally be addressed in a separate maintenance action with the obvious exception of a formal divorce decree being entered into between the parties.

The advantage of a separate maintenance action and agreement is for when the parties really want to keep working on their marriage (or don’t want to get divorced at this time for some reason). It can provide financial and emotional security and clarity to the parties as to what a post-divorce world would look like while enabling the parties to attempt to reconnect and work on their relationship. In the event that the parties are unsuccessful, the separate maintenance agreement can even be incorporated into a divorce settlement agreement to avoid additional costs in the event of a party electing to pursue a final divorce.

In Georgia, there are three ways to properly serve your spouse with notice of your divorce. First, if you feel that your spouse will accept service of the Complaint, then we can mail the paperwork to your spouse and ask him or her to acknowledge service. According to O.C.G.A. § 9-10-73, your spouse can sign an Acknowledgment of Service form in front of a notary. By signing the Acknowledgment of Service form, your spouse is swearing under oath that he or she received a copy of the Complaint for Divorce. Your spouse would then send back the Acknowledgement of Service and it would be properly filed with the court.

According to O.C.G.A. § 9-11-4(c), there are two other options to serve your spouse – either by Sheriff or a private process server. We only recommend service in one of these manners if it appears unlikely your spouse will not acknowledge service because service of both the additional costs involved and the potential adverse reaction that they can cause. Unfortunately, when your spouse is unwilling to cooperate, these methods become required in order to advance your case.

If one of these two methods must be employed, we generally recommend service by the Sheriff. Currently, the Sheriff only charges $25.00 to serve a lawsuit making this option extremely cost effective when service must be perfected by an individual.

Unfortunately, some people will dodge service by Sheriff’s deputy or the Sheriff is unable to perfect service for some reason. In these types of cases, we recommend using a private process server to effectuate service. Depending on the county in which the divorce is filed, the process server is either permanently appointed or needs to be specially appointed. If the process server is permanently appointed by the Superior Court, then he or she can serve your spouse almost immediately because he or she has an Order from the Court allowing them to serve any party in any case that is filed in the Superior Court in that county. Most counties in Georgia, however, require process servers to be specially appointed. If the process server needs to be specially appointed, a Motion is filed with the Court and if the Motion meets with the Judge’s approval, he or she will sign an Order permitting service by that process server. Unfortunately, your spouse is unable to be served until the judge signs the Order. The costs for having a private process server vary from case to case and depending upon the efforts required to locate and serve a party so unfortunately there is not a set price for service.

DeKalb County (Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Decatur, Doraville, Lithonia, and Stone Mountain) offers its Seminar for Divorcing Parents at three different locations:

• The Callaway Building located at 120 West Trinity Place Room 311, Decatur, Georgia
• DeKalb County Courthouse Judicial Tower located at 556 N. McDonough St, 5th Floor Room “A”, Decatur, Georgia
• The Maloof Building located at 1300 Commerce Drive Decatur, Decatur, Georgia, in the Annex building

The seminars are held on:

• the first Wednesday of each month from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
• the third Wednesday of each month from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and
• the fourth Friday of each month from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

According to O.C.G.A. 19-5-2, you must reside in the State of Georgia for a period of six (6) months before you can file for divorce. You would need to file the Complaint for divorce in the county in which your spouse resides.

If you live in the State of Georgia and your spouse resides out of state, you can still file for divorce in Georgia in the county in which you reside; however, your spouse would need to waive jurisdiction and venue in the state and county where he or she resides.

This is an often asked question that unfortunately, does not really have an answer. The reason for this is the delay for a divorce to occur in Georgia is not really a statutory delay. Technically, the proper answer is that Uniform Superior Court Rule 24.6(a) provides that the parties must wait a minimum of thirty-one days from the date of service (or date an acknowledgment of service is filed with the Court) prior to the Court being allowed to issue a decree of divorce. This technically correct answer is rarely the case in Georgia – especially in the metro Atlanta counties.

To better understand, it is important to understand what is required prior to a divorce being granted. Generally speaking, this means the parties must either agree to everything that is at issue in a divorce or have the court decide things for them through hearings and/or trials.

In regards to a settlement agreement, the biggest difficulty is the parties must reach an agreement on all issues pending in their divorce. While in an ideal world this sounds like (and generally is) the better way to handle a divorce, it is often difficult for two parties that are dealing with the numerous emotional and financial issues that surround a divorce to reach an agreement on everything. Of course, this entire process of presenting offers and counteroffers can become time consuming and often takes longer than the thirty day mandatory waiting period in Georgia because attorneys take time to careful draft and review proposals sent by each other and sometimes involve third party mediators to help facilitate negotiations. In addition, even once the parties agree, it may take weeks or even months for a judge to be able to review and finally approve a settlement agreement and final divorce depending upon his or her schedule and the volume of other cases that judge is handling.

Continue reading " How long do I have to wait before my divorce will be finalized in Georgia? " »

Because our firm firmly believes that informed clients make better choices, we have started the development of this blog to help our clients and the public better understand various family law topics. We are starting the development of this blog with some fundamental topics that relate to divorce, modification, contempt, and various other family law matters. Over time, we plan to add depth to various topics based upon issues that we see arising in our cases and leading family law cases in Georgia. We hope you enjoy your time here reviewing our blog and encourage you to provide us feedback.