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Divorce.com offers fast and affordable court papers for uncontested divorces in Georgia, helping couples avoid expensive attorney fees while maintaining control over settlement terms. Starting at just $499, couples can prepare all necessary divorce documents.
Georgia Divorce Forms
Georgia requires multiple forms including Complaint for Divorce, Case Filing Form, notarized Verification, Domestic Relations Financial Affidavit, and Settlement Agreement. Additional forms required for cases with children.
Filing for Divorce in Georgia
The process requires six-month residency verification, filing in the county where respondent resides, service of process, mandatory 30-day waiting period, and final judgment issuance. Most uncontested divorces finalize in 40-60 days.
Georgia
Divorce Forms
All the forms required
The divorce forms the spouses must prepare to apply for divorce in Georgia can vary depending on the type of divorce, the county where the case is filed, and the circumstances of a particular couple.
Generally, Georgia divorce forms include:
Complaint for Divorce
Case Filing Form
Verification (must be notarized)
Summons and Sheriff's Service Form
Domestic Relations Financial Affidavit
Mutual Restraining Order (some counties)
Domestic Relations Standing Order (some counties)
Acknowledgment of Service
Settlement Agreement (signed before notaries by both parties)
Final Judgment and Decree of Divorce
Domestic Relation Case Disposition Form
Child Support worksheets (divorces with children)
Parenting Plan (divorces with children)
Divorcing Parents Seminar Certificate of Completion (divorces with children)
Answer to Divorce (to file by the respondent)
Affidavit of Poverty (to request a fee waiver)
Steps to consider
Filing Requirements
Residency Requirements
For Georgia courts to have jurisdiction over a divorce case, a couple must meet the state residency requirements.
According to Family Law, either spouse must have been a Georgia resident for at least six months before filing the petition. Thus, non-residents can file for divorce in the county where the non-filing party (who meets the residency requirements) lives. If both spouses are state residents, the Complaint for Divorce must also be filed in the county where the respondent resides.
Grounds for Divorce
Georgia Family Law recognizes both no-fault and fault-based grounds for divorce. The only no-fault ground is the Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.
Georgia fault-based grounds include, but are not limited to, marriage between people too closely related, mental incapacity, impotence, adultery, wife's pregnancy by another man without the husband knowing, willful desertion for at least one year, habitual intoxication or drug addiction, cruel treatment, incurable mental illness, etc.
Initial Filing
In Georgia, divorce cases are processed at the Superior Court of an appropriate county.
To initiate a divorce, the petitioner must fill out the Complaint for Divorce and other divorce forms, sign them (in front of a notary if required), and make two sets of copies of all the papers.
The completed forms must then be filed with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where either spouse has lived for at least six months or through the court's e-filing system, if it is available in a given county.
Filing Fees
When the petitioner files the initial divorce papers with the court, they must pay a mandatory filing fee. In Georgia, it is about $220, varying slightly from county to county (the fee schedule can be found on the website of a Clerk of Superior Court of the relevant county).
However, if the petitioner cannot afford the court fees, they can ask for a fee waiver by filing an Affidavit of Indigency and Eligibility to Proceed In Forma Pauperis.
Serving the Respondent
Unless the respondent agrees to sign an Acknowledgement of Service form before a notary public, the petitioner must serve them with copies of all submitted documents.
However, the petitioner cannot deliver the papers by themselves. Instead, personal service can be accomplished in one of the following ways:
by the sheriff of the county where the action is filed;
by any other court-approved process server;
by publication (if the respondent cannot be found).
Waiting Period
Georgia Family Law provides a mandatory waiting period in all divorce cases, regardless of what grounds the spouse files for divorce under and regardless of whether a divorce is contested or not.
The 30-day waiting period begins once the respondent is served with copies of divorce papers. Thus, even an agreed upon divorce cannot be finalized earlier, regardless of how quickly the respondent files an answer to the Complaint for Divorce.
Finalizing a Divorce Case
In an uncontested divorce in Georgia, the spouses are not always required to attend a final hearing to finalize a divorce.
The judges still have broad discretion to schedule a hearing, especially if the divorcing spouses have minor children. However, if the spouses do not have kids and want to proceed without holding a hearing, they can file a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and ask the court to enter a divorce decree based on the submitted Settlement Agreement.
Filing basics
Filing for Divorce
Georgia
How to get started
The divorce forms the spouses must prepare to apply for divorce in Georgia can vary depending on the type of divorce, the county where the case is filed, and the circumstances of a particular couple.
Generally, Georgia divorce forms include:
Complaint for Divorce
Case Filing Form
Verification (must be notarized)
Summons and Sheriff's Service Form
Domestic Relations Financial Affidavit
Mutual Restraining Order (some counties)
Domestic Relations Standing Order (some counties)
Acknowledgment of Service
Settlement Agreement (signed before notaries by both parties)
Final Judgment and Decree of Divorce
Domestic Relation Case Disposition Form
Child Support worksheets (divorces with children)
Parenting Plan (divorces with children)
Divorcing Parents Seminar Certificate of Completion (divorces with children)
Answer to Divorce (to file by the respondent)
Affidavit of Poverty (to request a fee waiver)
Custody Basics
The divorcing parents of minors can either agree on all the child-related issues on their own or rely on the judge's decision. In either circumstance, both spouses together or each party separately must prepare a Parenting Plan specifying proposed child custody and visitation terms.
The court shall consider the submitted parenting plan to determine whether it meets the child's best interests.
Typically, Georgia courts presume that shared legal custody (the right to make essential decisions about the child's upbringing) and some form of shared physical custody (when the child spends significant time with each parent) is in the child's best interests unless proven otherwise.
Custody evaluation factors that influence the judge's decision in a particular divorce case include, but are not limited to:
Each spouse's parenting skills
Each spouse's willingness and ability to communicate and cooperate with the other parent
The child's mental and emotional condition and development
The child's relationship with each parent
Each parent's physical and mental health
The child's wishes (given the child is mature enough to express such preferences);
Any custodial agreements between the parents
Any history of domestic violence and abuse
And other factors the court may deem relevant
Uncontested Divorce
An uncontested divorce occurs when both parties agree to terminate their marriage and resolve all their disputes about alimony, property and debts division, child custody, etc., without court involvement.
So, they do not rely on the judge but memorialize the terms of their separation through the Settlement Agreement and then submit it for court approval.
Uncontested divorces typically take less time than contested ones. Besides, the spouses can reduce divorce expenses by filing for an agreed upon divorce. Refusing litigation allows the spouses to arrange their divorce without addressing a law firm or to take advantage of alternative dispute resolution methods (for example, mediation, based on negotiations between the parties). And if they have problems with paperwork, they can use online divorce services, like Divorce.com.
Support Basics
In Georgia, child support can be paid by either or both parents, depending on the circumstances of the case, custody arrangements, the child's needs, and the parents' financial capacity.
The spouses can determine an amount of child support independently by using the Online Child Support Calculator and Georgia Basic Child Support Obligation. This table helps determine the basic payment, taking into account the parents' combined gross income and the number of children.
If the parents cannot agree, the court orders child support and determines its amount after considering the following factors:
The child's age
The child's educational, daycare, and medical costs
The current child custody arrangement
Each parent's support obligations to other children, if any
The custodial parent's income
The price of insurance coverage for the child, etc.
