Why Hire a Divorce Lawyer?

The terms of your divorce will directly affect your parental and financial rights, and in addition to this serious matter, you can expect a good deal of emotional upheaval. Because the outcome of your divorce will affect your life so significantly, because your decision-making powers may be stretched to the limit by stress, and because the divorce process is complicated, you are well-advised to work closely with an experienced Georgia divorce lawyer throughout the legal process.

You Are Not Required to Hire a Divorce Lawyer

The fact of the matter is that if you are facing a divorce, you are not required to hire a divorce lawyer. It’s important to recognize, however, that divorce is often exceptionally complicated, and you’ll need to address matters related to all of the following:

  • Residency
  • Grounds for divorce
  • Divorce waiting periods

Each of these categories is broad and requires careful attention.

Residency

In order for the State of Georgia to have jurisdiction over your divorce, you must establish residency, which means that at least one of you must have lived in the state for at least six months prior to filing. Generally, divorce cases are filed in the county where the respondent (the spouse who is served with divorce papers) lives. Proof of residency in Georgia takes the form of a sworn complaint, which means the court will rely upon your word in the matter, and it’s important to get it right.

Grounds for Divorce

To obtain a divorce in Georgia, you’ll be required to provide a reason, which is known as the grounds for your divorce. Georgia allows both fault-based and no-fault divorces. No-fault divorces are generally preferred in situations in which the terms of divorce are not contested, and neither spouse is being blamed for the breakdown of the marriage. Divorces that are no fault relate to marriages that are considered irretrievably broken.

Fault-based divorces, on the other hand, are predicated on the misconduct of one of the spouses, and they tend to be more complicated. Fault-based grounds include:

  • Addiction
  • Adultery
  • Desertion that is willful and that lasts at least a year
  • Impotence
  • Imprisonment for more than two years
  • Inadequate mental capacity to consent
  • Incest
  • Cruel Treatment
  • Mental illness
  • Marriage based on duress, fraud, or undue influence

In Georgia, you can file for divorce on more than one ground.

Divorce Waiting Period

There are also specific requirements regarding divorce and waiting periods that are dependent upon the grounds of divorce involved. In other words, it’s complicated, and the matters listed represent only those requirements that relate to your initial filing – things tend to escalate from here.

An Experienced Georgia Divorce Lawyer Can Help

The accomplished Cumming and Forsyth County divorce lawyers at Banks, Stubbs & McFarland are well-versed in every aspect of divorce and are committed to helping you obtain divorce terms that work for you. To learn more, please don’t wait to contact us online or call us at 770-887-1209 today.