Divorce
Divorce is difficult for all parties. It impacts all aspects of your life: emotional, mental, relational, and finacial. Yet during this transition, you are called upon to make intelligent, thoughtful decisions.
We recognize these inherent challenges and aim to ease your stress during the entire process, by providing you with the resources and the support that you need, including helping you to understand the legal process and, specifically, Georgia’s divorce laws as they apply to your specific situation.
Major Areas of Divorce
- Asset/Marital Property Division
- Child Custody
- Child Support
- Spousal Support/Alimony
Custody
In an initial custody dispute between parents over the custody of a minor child, the sole question is this: What is in the best interest of the child? This question can only be answered by a judge, as Georgia law prohibits juries from determining custody matters. Essentially, there are no boundaries as to what a judge may look at in determining a child’s best interest, as the law provides that the judge may consider “any relevant factor.” Each judge may have a different opinion as to what he or she finds relevant in any given case.
Georgia child custody laws consider it in the best interest of the child to have both parents taking an active role in determining viable outcomes. Time-sharing arrangements are encouraged, and parenting plans for child custody and visitation must be submitted. These include:
- arrangements for shared custody during the week, as well as on weekends;
- alternating arrangements for holidays, school breaks, and special occasions;
- provisions for attendance at school, sports, and recreational events;
- shared responsibility for making decisions regarding the child’s education, health, development, and religious upbringing.
Child Support
The process of establishing child support payments often causes anxiety for parents going through the divorce process or paternity suits. Most parents who do not have primary custody of their children do want to pay reasonable child support, but logically, they worry about the impact of potentially excessive or financially crippling payments. Others who anticipate being awarded primary custody worry they will not be able to support the child at an appropriate level.
Georgia Child Support Guidelines
Parents should know that the state of Georgia requires both parents to support their children until a child reaches the age of 18, dies, graduates from high school, marries, emancipates, or joins the military. However, support can extend past the age of 18, such as in the case of a child still in high school.
What are you required to pay?
The law requires noncustodial parents to pay a reasonable amount of child support to the custodial parent to defray the child’s living expenses. Child support, in addition to a monthly or weekly sum, may also include such items as health insurance and payment of medical and dental expenses.
In 2007, the state of Georgia made some sweeping changes to child support laws and adopted a more rigid structure for determining what must be paid. The most important changes to the law included the following:
- In determining the child support obligation, the law now takes into account the combined income of both parents, along with the number of children to be supported. If you are currently paying or receiving child support, you may be entitled to a modification of your support order based on a financial change in circumstances. In other words, you might pay a substantially different amount based on the 2007 changes to the law.
- The court cannot order parents to pay for college. However, parents may agree for child support to continue beyond the age of 18 or to cover college expenses.
- A child support obligation “table” is now used to determine how much child support will be paid or received. With this more rigid structure, it is very important that courts have accurate information regarding each spouse’s income and earning potential when calculating that spouse’s ability to make child support payments. These guidelines take into account the incomes of both parents in determining the child support obligation.
Legitimation/Paternity
In Georgia, while mothers have inherent rights concerning their children at birth, establishing fathers’ rights is often more complicated.
There is a common misperception that being named as the father on your child’s birth certificate is enough to ensure your rights to visitation and for making decisions regarding their care. This is not the case. However, it does not give the father any parental rights. Only the mother of the child born out of wedlock is entitled to custody and has all parental rights over the child, unless the father legitimates the child.
Under the Official Code of Georgia there are four ways in which you can legitimate your child:
- You were legally married to the mother at the time she gave birth;
- You legally marry the mother after the birth and recognize the child as your own (assuming paternity has not been disproved through the court system);
- You legally adopt the child;
- You file a legitimation action in court.
Thus, if you have not married the mother of your child (before or after birth) or legally adopted the child, then you must go to court to establish any rights to custody or visitation, even if you are on the child’s birth certificate. Legitimation also establishes the right of inheritance for your child and allows the court to determine the name by which the child will be known.
The petition for legitimation begins with a 30-Day Status Conference. Often the court will order you, the mother, and the child to submit to DNA testing. If you are proved to be the father, the court may order child support, but the court will not necessarily grant legitimation that includes visitation, parenting time, or custody.
The court will look at several issues before making a final order on the legitimation. Most importantly, it will look at whether granting the legitimation is in the best interests of the child.
Contempt
If your ex-spouse or child’s parent is refusing to follow the terms of your court order, the best recourse you have is to file a Contempt.
Contempt can be filed if the other party is refusing to follow any term from your final divorce decree or any other final order. For example, not paying alimony, child support or following the orders of the court regarding division of property.
Judges can impose different penalties on a party that violates a court order, depending on the violation. For example, the court can order make-up visitation for a parent who has missed visitation periods due to the other parent blocking visits. A judge can order a payment plan for a parent behind on alimony or child support, or order that child support be taken directly from a paycheck. In extreme cases, the court can even place the violating party in jail.
Adoption
Uniting children with adoptive parents is one of the most rewarding aspects of our job. In Georgia, in addition to the requirement that you provide a loving and stable home for the adopted child(ren, some other legal requirements must be met.
Georgia adoption laws allow any child who is at least 10 years younger than the prospective parent (or any adult who gives written consent) to be adopted. Additionally, Georgia does not require home residency prior to finalization of the process.
The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (Ga. DHS) identifies seven main steps to the adoption process, from the initial inquiry to finalization.
1. Inquiry – Contact DHS, at 1-877-210-KIDS, to get the adoption process started; you will be scheduled for an interview with a case manager.
2. Orientation – Attend a meeting to learn more about the adoption process and requirements for adoptive parents; pictures of available children will be shown.
3. IMPACT Program – A comprehensive adoption preparation program consisting of 20 classroom hours of training.
4. Family Evaluation – Your family will be evaluated by DHS officials to determine whether your family is eligible for adoption.
5. Pre-Placement – Families and individuals who have qualified for adoption may identify a child early, which may shorten the length of the process.
6. Placement – Either you or the DHS will identify a child to be placed in your home; a meeting will be arranged to answer questions and schedule preliminary visits.
7. Finalization – The adoption will be legally finalized with the help of your adoption attorney; this typically ends with a judge’s finalization.
Domestic Violence/Temporary Protection Orders (TPOs)
The state of Georgia defines domestic violence as an act of “family violence.” The law protects against physical, sexual, and emotional abuse among family members. You don’t have to be married to someone in order to be a victim of domestic violence in Georgia.
Georgia courts treat domestic violence charges very seriously. The court may issue a Family Law Protective Order, which prohibits the offender from having contact with the victim for a specified period of time. If a person is found to have violated a restraining or protective order, he or she could be jailed and charged with a separate crime, including aggravated stalking.
A Family Violence Protection Order can
- Order an abuser to leave the victim alone;
- Give the victim possession of the house and force the abuser to leave (you may ask the court to have the sheriff send someone home with you to enforce this part of the order);
- Order assistance to help a victim get his or her personal property;
- Make the abuser provide alternate housing for a spouse, former spouse, or parent and children;
- Give the victim temporary custody of shared children and set temporary visitation rights;
- Award temporary child support and/or spousal support from the abuser;
- Order the abuser to go to counseling;
- Award costs and attorney’s fees to either party;
- Lead to the abuser’s arrest if he or she breaks the order.
Who is Protected?
Georgia’s Family Violence Act is a law designed to protect individuals who are abused by present or past spouses, parents of the same child, parents and children, stepparents and stepchildren, foster parents and foster children, or other persons living or formerly living in the same household. It may also be used to get temporary custody, financial support, and other assistance for the abused person. Additionally, victims who do not qualify under Georgia’s Family Violence Act may seek protection pursuant to Georgia’s stalking laws.
Estate Planning
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- Will or Living Will
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- Power of Attorney
- Trust(s)
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Address: 3055 State Street
Peachtree City, Georgia 30269
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