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Divorce in Burke County, Georgia: costs, court rules and local help

Checked · General information, not legal advice ·

Summary

Divorces in Burke County are filed with the Burke County Superior Court. The filing fee is $218, and sheriff service is $50 per copy served by the sheriff.

  • The clerk's office in the Burke County Judicial Center in Waynesboro is open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and handles Superior, State and Juvenile Court cases. Legal notices run in The True Citizen.1
  • The clerk's page links to the Augusta Judicial Circuit's ADR program, which handles mediation for Burke cases.2
  • Burke County shares the Augusta Judicial Circuit with Richmond County.3

Where to file

Burke County Clerk of Superior, State and Juvenile Court
Burke County Judicial Center, 200 East 6th Street
Waynesboro, GA 30830
Phone: 706-554-22792

Filing fee

$218 to file. Sheriff service: $50 per copy served by the sheriff.4

Parenting class

In a divorce, separate maintenance, legitimation or other case that first decides custody, both parents must complete a court-approved parenting seminar of at least four hours. Do it within 31 days after the other parent is served, and bring the certificate to court. A certificate is good for three years. When domestic violence has been alleged, the parents attend on different days. The judge can reduce or waive the fee for someone who qualifies as indigent, or waive the seminar for good cause.5

Mediation

A divorce or other family case goes to mediation when the court orders it. Either spouse can also ask the circuit's ADR program to refer a case once the other spouse has been served. In a family case, both spouses first complete a confidential domestic violence screening online. After that, they choose a mediator from the program's roster within 10 days and split the mediator's hourly fee equally. When domestic violence is alleged, the person harmed decides whether to mediate.6

Court forms

The clerk's pro se page sends people filing without a lawyer to outside form collections, including the Eighth Judicial Administrative District's pro se forms. Go to the forms.7

Also good to know

If your spouse has to be served by newspaper notice, Burke's cost schedule says a divorce notice runs for four weeks, at $15 per 100 words for each of the first four insertions. A family violence petition has no filing fee.4

Free and low-cost help in Burke County

  • Safe Homes of Augusta. A state-certified family violence program in Augusta serving Burke, Richmond, Columbia and seven other nearby counties. It uses the same number for its crisis line and office.
    Phone: 706-736-24998
  • Georgia Legal Services Program. Free civil legal help, including family law, for people with low incomes in 154 of Georgia's 159 counties. Apply online or call the intake line.
    Phone: 833-457-75299

If you need an interpreter

If you or a witness needs an interpreter, including sign language, tell the court in writing before the hearing, at least 5 days ahead where you can. The court then works to provide a licensed interpreter at its own expense.10

Burke County Superior Court website

Sources

  1. ^ Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, Burke County clerk directory entry (gsccca.org)
  2. ^ Burke County, Clerk of Superior, State and Juvenile Court: key points and address and phone (burkecounty-ga.gov)
  3. ^ Superior Court of the Augusta Judicial Circuit (augustaga.gov)
  4. ^ Burke County cost schedule effective July 1, 2024 (PDF): filing fees and other court rules (burkecounty-ga.gov, PDF)
  5. ^ Augusta Judicial Circuit, order on the parenting seminar, 2012 (PDF) (augustaga.gov)
  6. ^ Augusta Judicial Circuit ADR Program, FAQs (augustaga.gov)
  7. ^ Burke County Clerk of Court, pro se forms (burkecounty-ga.gov)
  8. ^ Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, state-certified family violence agencies (PDF) (cjcc.georgia.gov)
  9. ^ Georgia Legal Services Program, what we do (glsp.org)
  10. ^ Uniform Superior Court Rule 7.3, interpreters (gasupreme.us)

Court fees and rules change. Check with the clerk before you file. If something here looks out of date, email help@divorce.city.

Next step if you both agreeUncontested divorce in Georgia, step by stepHow an uncontested divorce works in Georgia, in order: checking you qualify, the settlement agreement, the forms, filing, service, the 30-day wait and the final decree.

Nearby counties

Fees and court rules differ from county to county. Guides for neighboring counties: Richmond County.

Burke County also borders Emanuel, Jefferson, Jenkins and Screven counties. Their clerks are listed on the Georgia page.

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