You must file for divorce with the Clerk of the Superior Court of the county where you or your spouse have lived for at least 6 months. You'll start by filing a petition for divorce, or a petition for divorce, stating the legal reasons for the divorce and the issues you want the court to address. To obtain any type of divorce in Georgia, one or both spouses must have lived in Georgia for at least six months immediately before the divorce is filed. If only the defendant spouse (who did not file the application) lives in Georgia, the divorce must be filed in the county where the defendant lives.
If you have lived in Georgia for six months or more, you can get a divorce. But if the court can't obtain personal jurisdiction over your spouse, it can't award alimony or child support, or award property in another state. Personal jurisdiction means that there are enough connections between your spouse and the state of Georgia for Georgia's courts to have the power to make decisions that affect your spouse. Uncontested divorce is often the quickest and least stressful way to end a marriage.
The cost of any divorce basically comes down to how well you and your spouse can minimize litigation (law firm work hours). Georgia does not require spouses to physically separate before filing for divorce. Under Georgia law, the only requirement for filing for divorce is that both parties must suspend “marital relations” with the intention of divorcing. Therefore, a specific time period of separation in Georgia is not required to get a divorce.
When the Complaint has been filed, a copy of the Complaint will be handed over to your spouse (providing the divorce documents). If your divorce involves minor children, substantial assets, or a business, the divorce is likely to take at least four to six months. Collaborative law is a process by which parties involved in a divorce work with a variety of professionals to address the core issues of their divorce without having to go to court. Under Georgia Superior Court rules, both parties to a divorce must attend a seminar for divorced parents.
When alternatives to the trial haven't worked, spouses should prepare to go to trial in the event of a divorce. Usually, an uncontested divorce can be finalized within 45 days to twelve months, while a highly contested divorce can take up to three years. You usually file for divorce in the Superior Court of the county where your spouse lives. Another disadvantage associated with being the first to file for a divorce is that the other party will be able to file counterclaims to your initial filing.
After filing for divorce on the grounds that your marriage is irretrievably broken, Georgia law requires the court to wait at least until the 31st day after the defendant's notification before granting a divorce. Even if your spouse doesn't have an attorney, you may not be able to finalize your divorce without legal advice. Founded in 1988, Stearns‑Montgomery and Proctor provides competent legal advice and advocacy in the areas of divorce and family law, including child support and custody, alimony and spousal support, paternity and father's rights, and adoption. It is common for one of the spouses to sign and submit an acknowledgment of receipt of service form in divorces.
not contested.
