Court Proceedings

In order to file for divorce in the state of Georgia, either you or your spouse (or both) must have been a resident of Georgia for at least six months. If both you and your spouse live in the same Georgia county, you will file for divorce in the county in which both of you…

Your spouse typically will receive notice that you have filed for divorce when a county sheriff or a private process server personally “serves” or delivers a copy of the divorce complaint to him or her. Once the sheriff or server gives your spouse a copy of the complaint, he or she will fill out a…

Under Georgia law, there are specific ways in which you must give notice, or service of process, to your spouse that you have filed for divorce. Probably the most common way to complete service is to have a sheriff or private process server personally deliver a copy of the divorce papers to your spouse.  If…

If you are involved in Georgia child custody dispute, you should be familiar with the possibility that the judge will order you and your child’s other parent to participate in a custodial evaluation.  If parents are unable to reach an agreement as to custody of their child, a court-appointed psychologist or mental health professional can…

Discovery is the process used in a divorce for each spouse to get information from one another about various divorce-related issues, many of which are financial in nature. This exchange of information permits each side to propose a settlement or proceed to trial if a settlement cannot be reached. Discovery can include the right to…

From time to time, an individual will want to have a hearing in his or her divorce case rescheduled. This may be due to a previously scheduled vacation, a death or illness in the family, or a conflict with a work schedule. In order to do so, the individual or his or her lawyer must…

When a couple decides to divorce, there is often a great deal of confusion and disagreement about various issues, such as child custody and visitation arrangement, child support, and even where each spouse will live during the divorce. One way to resolve these issues while the divorce proceedings are going on is to ask the…

Many individuals who are getting divorced find it helpful to sit down with their attorneys and a neutral, third party mediator and try to work out a settlement agreement. Mediation is a successful process in many divorce cases. Reaching an agreement with your soon-to-be-ex-spouse can be beneficial for a number of reasons. It saves money…

Under Georgia law, a spouse is entitled to have his or her divorce case decided by either a judge or a 12-person jury, with one exception. A jury cannot make a decision about child custody or child visitation in the state of Georgia; only a judge is permitted to make this type of decision in…

In some cases, a couple may wish to have their marriage annulled under Georgia law, rather than getting divorced. An annulment makes the marriage completely void, in that the marriage was never valid in the first place. However, annulments in the state of Georgia are very rare, as judges only grant annulments under very unusual…