Contested divorce in Georgia: when you can't agree Contested divorce in Georgia: when you can't agree

Filing and service. A Complaint for Divorce on one or more of Georgia's thirteen grounds. Six months' residency required. The Respondent files an Answer and, typically, a Counterclaim. Strategic note: whether to plead fault grounds alongside the no-fault ground is a real decision in Georgia — fault pleadings can lead to messy and intrusive discovery, raising the stakes and the temperature.

The temporary hearing. Georgia's early battleground — temporary custody, support, alimony, possession of the home, and attorney-fee awards, often decided on abbreviated evidence with each side limited to one live witness plus affidavits. Temporary outcomes shape settlement leverage for the whole case; treat this hearing as the trial preview it is.

Discovery. Full civil discovery — interrogatories, requests for production, subpoenas, depositions — plus Georgia's conduct dimension: where adultery or desertion is pled, financial and personal investigation both matter. On the money side, the classification and valuation fights (marital versus separate, appreciation, business value) run exactly as described at Georgia high-asset divorce.

Mediation. Most Georgia Courts require it before trial, and for good reason. Most cases settle at mediation..

Trial — bench or jury. Custody is always a decision for the Judge. But financial issues — alimony and property division — can go to a jury on either party's demand, a Georgia exclusive among the states where we practice. Jury demands are rare and often times are rooted in conduct: Certain conduct plays out very differently to twelve citizens than to one Judge who has seen it all. Knowing when to make (or withdraw) that demand is Georgia lawyering.

The calendar, stage by stage: Georgia divorce timeline and process.

Three disciplines. First, conduct evidence is a tool, not a therapy — deploy it where it moves the needle (the alimony bar, equitable division factors, custody impact), not for catharsis. Second, win the temporary hearing; Georgia cases settle in its shadow. Third, quantify the variance: with no asset division presumption and juries available, credible valuations and organized proof narrow the range in your favor — the side with the tighter file sets the settlement corridor.

Brown Carrington prepares Georgia contested cases for the courtroom — bench or jury — which is precisely why most of ours never see one.