Divorce in the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit: court rules for Baldwin, Greene, Hancock, Jasper, Jones, Morgan, Putnam and Wilkinson counties

County pages

Fees, clerks' offices and local help differ by county:

• Baldwin County: filing fee $208, sheriff service $50 per copy served
• Greene County
• Hancock County
• Jasper County
• Jones County: filing fee $208, sheriff service $50
• Morgan County
• Putnam County: filing fee $208, sheriff service $50
• Wilkinson County

Standing order

The standing order binds both spouses in every domestic case until a judge changes it. The spouse who files must file it in the case, and when service is by acknowledgment, attach it to the complaint and give or mail a copy to the other spouse. Each spouse is barred from:

• Injuring, harassing, vilifying, molesting or threatening the other spouse or the children.
• Taking the children out of Georgia on their own, except for ordinary family activities or an emergency. For an ordinary trip, the parent gives the other parent the dates, places and contact details in writing.
• Changing the children's school, day care or its routine, unless the separation truly makes it necessary.
• Selling, borrowing against, trading or removing from Georgia any of the couple's property, except in the ordinary course of business or an emergency.
• Changing any insurance policy in force when the case was filed, such as health, life, car or homeowner's, without the other spouse's written consent.

The order also encourages parents not to criticize each other in front of the children or put them in the middle, such as having a child carry messages or child support payments. Breaking the order can lead to contempt, fees or other sanctions.¹

Standard Orders for Parenting

These apply in any domestic case unless the orders in that case say otherwise:

• Each parent tells the other about any change of address, mailing address or phone numbers within 24 hours.
• A parent who needs child care for 24 hours or more gives the other parent the first chance to provide it.
• Neither parent says or does anything around the child that would lessen the child's love for the other parent, or lets others do so.
• Marriage, court and money talk stays out of the child's hearing, including at exchanges and during phone calls with the child.
• Each parent shares school, sports and activity notices, and neither schedules activities during the other's time without agreement.
• Schedule changes need at least 24 hours' notice, and the parent asking pays any extra child care it causes.
• Both parents may call the child at reasonable times and the child may call either parent. If they disagree, calls are on Tuesday and Thursday evenings between 7 and 9 p.m. Neither parent may record the child's conversations with the other.
• Each parent can talk to the child's teachers, coaches and doctors, get school and medical records, and attend school and activity events.¹

Default visitation schedule

If the parents can't agree, this schedule controls for the parent without primary custody:

• Every other weekend, from Friday at 6 p.m. to Sunday at 6 p.m.
• Two non-consecutive weeks in June or July, with written notice to the other parent by May 1.
• Christmas break split at December 26, Thanksgiving, July 4, spring break and fall break, each alternating by even and odd years.
• Mother's Day and Father's Day weekends with that parent, from Friday at 6 p.m. to Sunday at 6 p.m., whatever the regular schedule.
• A Monday federal holiday added to that parent's weekend, until 6 p.m.

The parent with visitation handles transportation, picking up and returning the child at the other parent's home.¹

Seminar and mediation

The March 2021 standing order ended the requirement that divorcing parents attend a seminar to get a divorce, and rescinded the earlier orders that required one.¹

The standing order has no mediation requirement for divorce cases, and Georgia's official directory of court-connected mediation programs lists none serving Baldwin, Greene, Hancock, Jasper, Jones, Morgan, Putnam or Wilkinson counties.²

Filing and hearings

Lawyers must e-file civil cases through PeachCourt. People without a lawyer may e-file but don't have to; the clerk still accepts their papers on paper, in person or by mail. Requests to waive fees, temporary protective orders and sealed papers must be filed on paper.¹

To ask to file without paying, use the circuit's pauper's affidavit. Before it goes to a judge, it must be fully filled out and notarized, with supporting papers attached, such as bills, pay stubs, bank statements, or proof of unemployment or disability. If you have no bills or income, include papers showing where you live and who supports you.¹

For a hearing held by video, cases and all paperwork must reach the clerk and the judge's office by noon two business days before court. In an uncontested case, the judge's office needs the proposed orders as PDFs, and in a contested case any exhibits go to the other side and the judge's office by the same deadline. Cases that miss it aren't put on that day's calendar.¹

In child support cases handled by the state's Office of Child Support Services, family health insurance for the children costing 5% or less of the paying parent's gross income is treated as a reasonable cost.¹

The circuit posts free packets for contested and uncontested divorces, with and without minor children, plus checklists, a parenting plan, a pauper's packet and a service by publication packet.³

Related guides

• Mediation or court in Georgia
• Georgia divorce costs by county