Let Us Help Protect What is Important to You

If you or your spouse have decided to end your marriage, let us help you protect what is important to you.  At the conclusion of the divorce process, the Court will issue final and permanent orders regarding child custody and support, visitation, spousal support (alimony), division of marital property and marital debts, and many other important issues.  You have rights.  Let us help you protect and assert them.

What to Do if you've Been Served with Divorce Papers

If you have been served with a Complaint for Divorce or other court papers, you must act immediately to protect your rights.  Depending on the kind of court papers that were served on you, you have as few as 30 days to file a legal response.  If you fail to file a response before the filing deadline, the Court may enter a “default judgment” against you, granting your spouse everything he or she asks for regarding child custody, child support, spousal support, property division, etc.  Call us immediately if you have been served with court papers of any kind. Also, if you spouse delivers divorce papers to you, while that generally is not legal service, you should immediately seek advice of counsel and sign nothing until you have spoken with an attorney.

Legal Effect of Divorce

A divorce permanently terminates your marriage and resolves several very important issues: With whom will the children reside?  Who will pay child and/or spousal support (alimony), and how much and for how long?  Who will pay which bills?  Who will keep which property?  How will retirement incomes be divided?  Will one spouse have to provide medical insurance for the other and the children?  These are just a few of the many issues which must be resolved through the divorce process. 

We will assist you in trying to reach a resolution of these and all other relevant issues in your divorce by agreement with your spouse.  If you and your spouse are able to reach an agreement, the agreement will be reduced to writing and submitted to the Court.  If the Court approves the agreement, the Court will issue your divorce decree according to the terms of the agreement.  Depending on the Court’s caseload, it generally takes about two months to finalize your divorce after you have completed and filed an agreement and all of the necessary paperwork.

If, however, you and your spouse are unable to reach an agreement, or if the Court rejects your agreement, then you must go through the “contested divorce” process, where the judge or jury will decide these issues for you.  The contested divorce process can be complicated, and requires work to prepare pleadings, conduct discovery as to assets, liabilities, fault grounds and to address issues of child custody and visitation, support and property division and generally takes two to twelve months or longer to complete.  At the appropriate point in the process, we generally propose a settlement to your spouse and often use mediation - a non-binding discussion with a neutral third-party (“mediator”) to try to reach an agreement on these issues.

 Custody of the Children

A divorce decree must resolve two custody issues if there are children born of the marriage - “physical custody” (with which parent will the children reside) and “legal custody” (which parent will be responsible for making major decisions in the child’s life, such as which church and school the child will attend, medical decisions, etc.).  Both physical and legal custody can be shared (“joint custody”) or held solely by one parent.  If physical custody is granted to one parent, then the other parent usually has rights of visitation and, while both parties have a duty to support their children, generally the non custodial parent will be required to pay child support based upon guidelines set by state law.  If you and your spouse cannot agree on the custody issues, then the Court will make a decision based on what is in the best interest of the children.

Temporary Orders for Child Custody, Child Support, and Use of Marital Property   

Once you or your spouse files the Complaint for Divorce, which starts the divorce process, either party can ask the Court to set a hearing to temporarily resolve certain issues while you are waiting for your divorce to become final.  The Court can issue temporary orders regarding child custody, child support, and the use of marital property (who gets to use the car, who gets to live in the family home, etc.). 

 Spousal Support

If you and your spouse are unable to agree on whether one spouse will support the other and the amount and duration of such support, the Court may order one spouse to provide support to the other spouse for a temporary or indefinite period.  In ordering spousal support, the Court will consider the following factors: (1) the financial resources of both spouses; (2) the potential of the spouse seeking support to meet his or her financial needs; (3) the duration of the marriage; (4) the standard of living established while married; (5) the age of the spouses; (6) the health condition of the spouses; (7) the spouses’ occupations during the marriage; (8) the vocational skills and employability of the party seeking support and maintenance; (9) the needs of the parties; (10) the custodial and child support responsibilities; (11) the ability of the party from whom support and maintenance is sought to meet his or her own needs while meeting the needs of the party seeking support and maintenance; (12) other factors which measure the financial condition in which the parties will be left as the result of the action under which the determination of maintenance is made; and (13) the probable duration of the need of the party seeking support and maintenance.

Property Division

All marital assets and marital debts must be divided between you and your spouse.  A marital asset is any tangible or intangible item of value which was acquired by either spouse during the marriage, except by gift or inheritance.  The item is considered a marital asset even if it was purchased by only one spouse using income exclusively from that spouse’s employment, is titled in the name of one spouse, is used exclusively by one spouse, etc.  Contests over the designation of an asset as marital, non-marital or a mixture of both are common and we are prepared to make a proper evaluation and presentation to the court.

Marital debts are bills and debts acquired by either your or your spouse during the marriage.  Again, it does not matter in whose name the debt was acquired, who benefited from the expense or funds giving rise to the debt, etc.
 
In an uncontested divorce, you and your spouse can agree on how to divide the marital assets and marital debts.  So long as you agree, and your agreement is not induced by fraud or duress, you may agree to divide your marital assets and debts in proportions other than 50-50.  If you cannot agree, the Court will divide your marital assets and debts according to what the Court believes is “fair and equitable.”  This generally means that the judge or jury will divide your marital assets and marital debts, awarding and assigning approximately 50% of each to you and 50% to your spouse.

Beware:  The divorce decree issued in either an uncontested or contested divorce is only binding on you and your spouse - it is not binding on your creditors and creditors can simply ignore it.  Thus, even though you and your spouse agree, or the judge orders, that your spouse will, for example, be solely responsible to pay the Visa credit card account that was opened in both of your names, you remain liable for the debt under the terms of the agreement between you and the credit card company.  Therefore, if your spouse misses a payment when due, there will be a negative entry on your credit report, and the creditor can sue you. We make every effort to get joint accounts paid out or to have the debt transferred into an account solely in the name of the person responsible for the debt in the divorce decree.

Temporary Protective Order

If spouse has committed a recent act of family violence on you or your children or if you believe that your spouse poses a threat to you and/or your children and you can demonstrate a factual basis for your concerns, you can ask the Superior Court to issue a temporary protective order (“TPO”).  A TPO is a court order that can order your spouse not to contact you, your children, and other persons living with you.  It can also order your spouse to leave the home.  It can give you temporary custody of your children and provide for temporary support. The initial TPO is entered by the court based upon your sworn testimony and a petition you will be required to prepare. Should the court enter a TPO, it will be served on your spouse by a special unit of the county sheriff’s office, usually the same day the order is entered. You and your spouse will then be required to appear before a judge within 30 days to present testimony as to whether the TPO should be entered for 12 months.

 Paternity

Georgia law considers the husband to be the legal father of all children born during marriage.  If the husband believes that a child born during the marriage is not his, he may seek to establish paternity before the divorce is final.  If paternity is not otherwise established, the husband will remain the legal father and will be legally responsible to support the child.  In cases where the parents are not married, either party can file a paternity action which is a process that ends with the entry of a court order that establishes who the father is as a matter of law.  A legal father has certain rights (primarily, rights regarding custody and visitation) and obligations (to pay child support if he doesn’t have physical custody).  Unless and until an order is entered establishing paternity and legitimating the child born to unmarried parents, the father has no rights to custody or visitation and the child may not inherit from the father.

Mediation

Often, parties will attend mediation to attempt to reach an agreement on some or all issues.  The attorneys will select a mediator and schedule a date utilizing the court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Office.  The mediation process usually beings with all parties and their counsel meeting in a conference room where the mediator will make some preliminary remarks about the process and pass an agreement around for all to sign saying that you will mediate in good faith and that what goes on in mediation is confidential except as to threats of violence. Then the attorneys will provide the mediator with an outline of what each party wants after which each spouse and their counsel separate into one of two rooms set aside for the mediation. Then the mediator goes back and forth meeting privately with each side trying to reach an agreement. If an agreement is reached, then a memorandum of agreement is drafted and signed by all parties.  Afterwards one of the attorneys will prepare a settlement agreement that will be reviewed and signed by both parties.  The settlement agreement is filed and submitted to the Court and the final decree will be entered granting the divorce based upon those terms, subject to the approval of the Court.

Modification of Prior Divorce Decree

After the entry of a divorce decree, situations often change necessitating a change in the divorce decree as relates to child custody, visitation, child support, alimony and certain other issues. Georgia law is very specific as to what provisions are subject to modification and as to what provisions are not subject to modification. We will assist in evaluating your situation and make recommendations as to a proper course of action to address changes that have occurred since the entry of the divorce decree.

Enforcement of Divorce Decree

After the entry of a divorce decree, it sometimes becomes necessary to seek the court’s intervention to enforce the provisions of the decree. Child custody and visitation rights and duties, child support, medical insurance and uncovered medical expenses, alimony, property division and debts are areas of dispute that can require enforcement. We have experience in litigating this matters and can advise and assist in the enforcement of your former spouse’s obligations under the divorce decree.