Best Divorce Lawyers in Atlanta, GA

An uncontested divorce does not simply mean that both parties have agreed to divorce. It does not take consent of both parties to get a divorce. An uncontested divorce means that you and your spouse have reached a complete agreement on all issues, including division of property, allocation of debt, payment of child support, custody, visitation, and alimony. That agreement has to be drafted into a legal Settlement Agreement and signed by both parties.

Once there is a signed Settlement Agreement, the parties can be divorced 31 days from the date the divorce complaint has been served. However, without a signed Settlement Agreement, the length of the legal process depends on your county of residence and the judge assigned to your case. Some divorces involving complicated issues or custody of young children can take several years to resolve through settlement or trial.

Georgia is an equitable division state. Equitable division does not necessarily mean equal division. Equitable means what two people consider to be fair. Marital property is defined as all property accumulated from the date of marriage to the date of divorce, which is not separate property. Marital property is subject to equitable division. Separate property is property that a party brings into the marriage, or receives by gift from someone other than their spouse, or inherits during the marriage. In deciding who gets what property, many criteria are considered, such as the separate estate of each party, the contribution of each party to the marriage, the causes for the dissolution, the household income and lifestyle, and the duration of the marriage.