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Divorce in Thomas County, Georgia: costs, court rules and local help
Summary
Divorces in Thomas County are filed with the Thomas County Superior Court. The filing fee is $218, and sheriff service is $50 per copy served.
Thomas County is in the Southern Judicial Circuit with Brooks, Colquitt, Echols and Lowndes counties.[1] The clerk notes that Senate Bill 322 changed filing fees as of July 1, 2024; the general civil filing fee, which applies to all civil cases except family violence, abandoned vehicle and transfer cases, is $218 plus service fees.[2] Under the circuit's ADR rules, a contested family case still open 150 days after filing is referred to mediation.[3] The circuit's parenting seminar has been required since a December 1997 court order. Class questions go to 229-563-6439, and a fee waiver application is posted.[4]
Where to file
Thomas County Clerk of Superior, State and Juvenile Courts
325 North Madison Street
Thomasville, GA 31792
Phone: 229-225-4108[5]
Filing fee
$218 to file. Sheriff service: $50 per copy served.[2]
Parenting class
When the case involves children under 18, each parent completes the "In the Best Interest of the Children" program, or another program the court approves, within 45 days of service or of filing an acknowledgment of service.[6]
Mediation
The circuit's ADR program handles mediation. A session usually takes no more than four hours, it's confidential, and lawyers who represent a spouse must attend. The spouses split the neutral's fee equally unless the judge orders otherwise. If they settle, the neutral writes up a settlement memorandum for both to sign, and their lawyers turn it into a formal agreement or consent order.[7]
Court forms
The Thomas County clerk sends self-represented filers to the Southern Judicial Circuit's self-help forms, which include divorce packets for cases with and without children. Go to the forms.[8]
Standing order
The circuit's domestic relations standing order of November 4, 2022 starts when the divorce is filed and lasts until a temporary order is entered, the order is extended, or 60 days pass, whichever comes first. During that time neither parent may, without written agreement or a court order, take the children out of school or day care, hide them, move them, discuss the case around them or bad-mouth the other parent in front of them. Neither spouse may cancel insurance, utilities or the other's phone, change beneficiaries, or drain marital accounts beyond normal expenses and legal fees.[6]
Also good to know
The clerk's office stopped taking personal checks in 2019. Pay in cash, by money order or by credit card, which carries a convenience fee, and bring close to the right change. Send regular mail to PO Box 1995, Thomasville, GA 31799; the Madison Street address is for FedEx and UPS only. The clerk's page also links the circuit's domestic relations standing order.[5]
Free and low-cost help in Thomas County
- Halcyon Home for Battered Women. A state-certified family violence program in Thomasville serving Thomas, Grady, Decatur, Mitchell and Seminole counties. The number below is its crisis line; its office is 229-226-6682.
Phone: 229-226-6666[9] - 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: 833-457-7529[10]
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.[11]
Thomas County Superior Court website
Sources
- ^ O.C.G.A. § 15-6-1, judicial circuits (Justia) (law.justia.com)
- ^ Thomas County Clerk of Courts, schedule of filing and court costs: key points and filing fees (thomascountyboc.org)
- ^ Southern Judicial Circuit, local ADR program rules (PDF) (southernjudicialcircuit.com, PDF)
- ^ Southern Judicial Circuit, program for parents on the effects of divorce on children (southernjudicialcircuit.com)
- ^ Thomas County Clerk of Courts, contact: address and phone and other court rules (thomascountyboc.org)
- ^ Southern Judicial Circuit, standing order for domestic relations actions, November 2022 (PDF): parenting class and standing order (southernjudicialcircuit.com, PDF)
- ^ Southern Judicial Circuit, alternative dispute resolution program (southernjudicialcircuit.com)
- ^ Southern Judicial Circuit, self-help family law forms (southernjudicialcircuit.com)
- ^ Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, state-certified family violence agencies (PDF) (cjcc.georgia.gov)
- ^ Georgia Legal Services Program, what we do (glsp.org)
- ^ Uniform Superior Court Rule 7.3, interpreters (rulesofcivilprocedure.com)
Court fees and rules change. Check with the clerk before you file. If something here looks out of date, email help@divorce.city.