Georgia Divorce Law Residency Requirements for Divorce in Georgia

The spouse filing must have been a resident of Georgia for 6 months and file for divorce in the county of residence. However, a non-resident may file for divorce against a spouse who has been a resident of Georgia for 6 months. In such cases, the divorce must be filed for in the county in which the respondent resides.
[Code of Georgia Annotated; 19-5-5].

Legal Grounds for Divorce in Georgia

  1. No Fault Divorce: Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.
    [Code of Georgia Annotated; 19-5-3].
  2. General Divorce:
    1. Impotence
    2. Adultery
    3. Conviction of and imprisonment of over 2 years for an offense involving moral turpitude
    4. Alcoholism and/or drug addiction
    5. Confinement for incurable insanity
    6. Separation caused by mental illness
  1. Willful desertion
  2. Cruel and inhuman treatment which endangers the life of the spouse
  3. Habitual intemperance (drunkenness)
  4. Consent to marriage was obtained by fraud, duress, or force
  5. Spouse lacked mental capacity to consent (including temporary incapacity resulting from drug or alcohol use)
  6. The wife was pregnant by another at the time of the marriage unknown to the husband
  7. Incest
[Code of Georgia Annotated; 19-5-3].

Legal Separation in Georgia
There are legal provisions in Georgia for an action for separate maintenance for spouses who are living separately, but not divorcing. The factors and conditions are the same as those listed below under Alimony and Spousal Support.
[Code of Georgia Annotated; 19-6-10].

Simplified/Special Divorce Procedures in Georgia
There are no legal provisions in Georgia for simplified divorce.

Divorce Mediation or Counseling Requirements
There are no legal provisions in Georgia for divorce mediation.

Divorce Property Distribution
Georgia is an "equitable distribution" state. The courts will distribute the marital property including any gifts and inheritances, equitably. There are no factors to be considered specified in the statute.
[Code of Georgia Annotated; 19-5-13 and Georgia Case Law].

Alimony and Spousal Support
Permanent or temporary alimony may be awarded to either spouse, unless the separation was caused by that spouse's desertion or adultery. The following factors are to be considered:

1. The contribution of each spouse to the acquisition of the marital property, including the contribution of each spouse as homemaker, in childcare, education, and career-building of the other spouse
2. The duration of the marriage
3. The financial resources of each spouse
4. The age and physical and emotional condition of both spouses;
5. The value of each spouse's separate property
6. The earning capacity of each spouse
7. Any fixed liabilities of either spouse
8. The standard of living established during the marriage
9. The time necessary for a spouse to acquire sufficient education to enable the spouse to find appropriate employment.

[Code of Georgia Annotated; 19-5-5+].

Spouse's Name After Divorce
If requested, a spouse's name may be restored.
[Code of Georgia Annotated; 19-5-12 and 19-5-16].

Child Custody After Divorce
Joint or sole custody is granted, based upon the best interests of the child and a consideration of the following factors:

1. The suitability of each parent as custodian
2. The psychological, emotional, and developmental needs of the child
3. The ability of the parents to communicate with each other
4. The prior and continuing care that the parents have given the child
5. Parental support for the other parent's relationship with the child
6. The wishes of the child (considering the child's age and maturity)
7. The safety of the child
8. The geographic proximity of the parents
9. Any custodial agreements of the parents
10. Any history of domestic abuse

There is a presumption against awarding joint custody in Georgia when there is a history of domestic abuse.
[Code of Georgia Annotated; 19-9-1 to 19-9-51].

Child Support After Divorce
Both parents are liable for the support of minor children. The court may award child support from either parent, based on their customary needs and the parents' ability to pay. There are no specific factors for consideration set out in the statute. However, there are official child support guidelines set out in the statute that are to be followed in all cases in which the parents are not able to reach an agreement. In such cases there are factors which will be followed in special circumstances. The special circumstances include:

1. The age of the children
2. A child's medical costs or extraordinary needs
3. Educational costs
4. Daycare costs
5. Shared physical custody arrangements
6. A parent's support obligations to another household
7. Hidden income of a parent
8. The income of the parent with custody
9. Contributions of the parents
10. Extreme economic circumstances
11. A parent's own extraordinary needs
12. Historic spending levels of the family
13. The cost of health and accident insurance coverage for the child
14. Any extraordinary visitation travel expenses

[Code of Georgia Annotated; 19-5-12, 19-6-14, and 19-6-15.]

Continue to Hawaii Divorce Laws
 
Resource Article:

Whose Day Is It Today???
By Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW


Whose Day Is It Today???

Keeping track of children’s residential schedules is often a source of conflict between separated parents. So too is communicating simple things such as doctor’s appointments, parent-teachers meetings and the like. Changes to children’s residential schedules and missed appointments often serve as a flash point particularly with separated parents who hold resentment between each other. As the anger for miss-communications on these matters escalates, the children then become the emissaries and messengers between their parents as they are positioned to deliver messages back and forth. The children’s anxiety raises proportionate to the temper and anger of the parents. Their ability to concentrate on tasks such as schoolwork is compromised as their concern turns to their parents’ distress.

Enter the Internet. Several websites have emerged offering the new millennium approach to help parents keep track of schedules and to facilitate their communication. For a reasonable fee, parents can subscribe to a service that stores the residential schedule, keeps track of appointments and expenses and will even send out email reminders of their children’s events.

The best of these programs can even help parents establish their schedule and help parents project out through the years to see when, according to their schedule, other events such as holidays or birthdays occur. The advantage for many is that it helps them plan well in advance and keeps them on track along the way. As parents are kept on track, there are naturally a few less issues to fight about.

Some of these programs offer a slew of different functions including file sharing, picture swapping, expense tracking, contact lists, reminders and more. However, parents are advised to consider their real needs as the more a service offers, the more overwhelming the program can be. For most users, scheduling, appointment reminders, mutual communication and perhaps expense tracking is all they really require. Further, some programs require a fee before service while others allow a free trial period. The benefit of the free trial period is that it allows the user to get familiar with the program before purchase. Those programs that only offer an example can be made to appear far easier to use than may be the case.

These programs can be a real service to just about any separated parents. However, they likely are of even greater use with separated parents prone to conflict. As well as providing all of the above-mentioned features, it helps keeps distance between parents who if communicating directly, may see their own behaviour degenerate. Further, the service provides for accountability because neither parent can claim not being told about an event if it has been entered into the program. An electronic record dates entries and events and provides a detailed history if ever these items fall to dispute.

Of the website services available, I have aligned myself with http://www.jointparents.com. I was impressed by ease of use, the 30-day free trial and the quick response I received from the company when I had questions. This website can be easily contrasted with the several others available by searching Google, keywords: joint parents calendar.

Having trouble keeping track of your children’s residential schedule? Then let an Internet based program lend a hand.
 

Divorce Factoid:

Divorce Rate In India

Divorce rates in India are amongst the lowest in the world. 11 marriages out of 1,000 marriages (around 1 marriage out of 100 marriages) ends up to divorce in India. This figure was even low in 1990. In 1990, 7.40 marriages out of 1,000 marriages ended up in divorce in India.

The divorce rate in India is even quite lower in the villages in India and higher in urban parts of India. These days divorce rates in India’s urban sphere are shooting up.

Some facts from CIA World book for comparison with US

--Infant mortality rate
India - 64.9 deaths/1,000 live births
USA -6.76 deaths/1,000 live births

--Life expectancy at birth
India 62.5 years
USA 77.26 years

--Birth rate
India - 24.79 births/1,000 population
USA - 14.2 births/1,000 population

--Death rate
India -8.88 deaths/1,000 population USA - 8.7 deaths/1,000 population

--Divorce rates
US - 50%
India - 1.1%

Disclaimer:
This website is not intended to give legal advice or service.
It is an informational website and should only be used as such.
For legal issues seek a competent legal counsel or advisor. A man that represents himself has a fool for a client.



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