Law Office of Christopher E. Ward, LLC
Douglasville, GA 30134
Phone
(817) 805-3670 or
(678) 7CE-WLAW
(678-723-9529)
Monday thru Friday
8:30 am to 5:30 pm
also available:
By phone or email,
24 hours/7 days a week
FAMILY LAW
So the unthinkable has happened, something you thought would not, could not happen to you, but here it is, you want a divorce, or your spouse wants a divorce. Either way, make no mistake about it. Your spouse or ex-spouse will be hiring an attorney to fight for them. You need an attorney to fight for you.
The following are the most commonly contested areas of family law:
Divorce is an extremely emotional time - feelings of anger, betrayal, sadness, joyfulness, depression, grief, anger again, and the feelings keep changing. Add children to the mix and the emotions are intensified ten times over. Divorce is not only emotionally draining but involves learning to live a new life. It involves learning to cope with an unknown and learning to handle the fear of a dramatic life-altering event. Now is not the time to learn to deal with the multitude of legal issues and challenges surrounding your divorce.
Child Custody and Visitation is a complex process of proving "what is in the best interest of the child" and unquestionably the most difficult for all parties involved. Do not be fooled into thinking what you think is best is what the judge will think is best.
Child Support, Spousal Support, Alimony, and Modifications involves a complicated process of defining the legal issue, discovery, introduction of evidence, and persuasion to satisfy a legal burden. The other side will be fighting hard to prevent it or mold it for their benefit. It most certainly will not be for yours.
So the question emerges: Can I even get a divorce? In Georgia, if you want a divorce, then, you can get a divorce. Long gone are the days were there has to be some justification for the granting of a divorce.
Grounds for divorce are in O.C.G.A. §19-5-3. Here, we will state the differing grounds for a divorce in Georgia.
1) Intermarriage by persons within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity.
2) Mental incapacity at the time of the marriage.
3) Impotency at the time of the marriage.
4) Force, menace, duress, or fraud in obtaining the marriage.
5) Pregnancy of the wife by a man other than the husband, at the time of the marriage, unknown to the husband.
6) Adultery in either of the parties after marriage.
7) Willful and continued desertion by either of the parties for the term of one year.
8) The conviction of either party for an offense involving moral turpitude, under which s/he is sentenced to imprisonment in a penal institution for a term of two years or longer.
9) Habitual intoxication.
10) Cruel treatment, which shall consist of the willful infliction of pain, bodily or mental, upon the complaining party, such as reasonably justifies apprehension of danger to life, limb, or health.
11) Incurable mental illness.
12) Habitual drug addiction.
13) Irretrievably broken.
Why bother adjudicating a divorce on a justification? It costs more, intensifies the anger of an already angry situation, and will certainly delay the finalizing of the divorce for some time. Of course, there is the spitefulness, vindictiveness, vengefulness, and probably a lot of …..ness’s not mentioned. It may also affect any alimony, child custody awards, child visitation or marital wealth division orders from the court or it may have no effect at all.
Sometimes going to trial and letting the judge make the decisions is the best, and at times, the only thing to do. Sometimes it is better to keep the decision making power in your own hands and reach an agreement that you can live with.
Call us for a free consultation. We listen to our clients, their needs, wants, and expectations. We give a fair and honest assessment of your case and tell you what we can do, what we cannot do, and what we will try to do. We will fight to protect or enforce your legal rights.