Divorce in Georgia, start to finish

Georgia does not have a separate “simplified” track the way Florida or Connecticut do. What it has instead is one real fork: uncontested, meaning everything has been settled, versus contested, meaning it has not — and that fork decides whether a case can be over in about a month or takes a great deal longer. Almost everyone files under the no-fault ground, O.C.G.A. § 19-5-3(13), that the marriage is irretrievably broken.

O.C.G.A. § 19-5-2 requires one spouse to have been a bona fide resident of Georgia for 6 months before filing. There is no way around it.

The complete list, not a shortlist — because which forms a case needs depends on facts only you and, if you need one, your lawyer can weigh. Georgia only publishes two divorce forms statewide, on georgiacourts.gov; everything else — the settlement agreement, the parenting plan, the final judgment itself — is drafted by you, your county, or an attorney, because Georgia never built one uniform packet. Each row says which route it belongs to and which pieces are real statewide forms with links we checked.

Every linked form is free and statewide, or the clean copy a major county publishes of a statewide-required form. Rows marked “county clerk” have no single Georgia-wide version — confirm the current template with the Superior Court clerk in the county where the case will be filed.

Nobody explains this part, so here it is. Georgia is far less centralized than Florida or Connecticut — there’s no single statewide e-filing portal for self-represented filers and no guided online tool. That’s not a flaw in this guide; it’s the actual state of Georgia’s system, and pretending otherwise would get your filing rejected.

Almost everything in a Georgia divorce counts from the day your spouse is served (or signs an Acknowledgment of Service) — not from the day you file. Put in your dates and we’ll turn Uniform Superior Court Rule 24.6 into actual dates on your calendar, then you can add them to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook in one click.

These are the specific things that get Georgia filings bounced, stalled, or defaulted on — the clerk won’t necessarily flag them for you.

This is the piece most self-represented Georgia filers have never heard of until they’ve already violated it.

This is Georgia’s version of a financial disclosure form — required under Uniform Superior Court Rule 24.2 whenever there’s a hearing on temporary issues, and in practice expected in most contested and many uncontested cases. It’s a sworn statement, not a draft.

What this is. A guide to Georgia’s own process, built from the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Title 19, Chapter 5 — including O.C.G.A. §§ 19-5-2, 19-5-3, and 19-6-15; Title 9’s civil practice provisions including § 9-11-3 and § 9-15-2; and Title 15, § 15-16-21), the Uniform Superior Court Rules (including Rules 24.2 and 24.6), and the official forms and self-help instructions published by Georgia Courts at georgiacourts.gov. Where a county’s own fee, form, or local rule was the only source, we’ve named that county rather than presenting it as statewide.

What this is not. The Cusp is not a law firm and does not practice law. Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing here tells you which choice is right for your particular situation — only what Georgia and the specific counties we could verify require. If your case involves contested custody, a business, hidden assets, domestic violence, or a spouse with a lawyer, talk to one yourself; many offer free consultations, and one hour of advice is cheaper than a case that stalls for months.

Confirm current numbers with your clerk. Georgia’s fragmentation is real, not a gap in this guide: 159 counties each run their own Superior Court, and local rules, packets, and fees change without a central statewide announcement. Where we could not verify an exact form, fee, or deadline with an official source, this guide says so directly and tells you to check with your county Superior Court clerk rather than guessing.