Divorce in Georgia when your spouse won't sign or can't be found

You don't need your spouse's signature

In an uncontested divorce, the other spouse usually signs an acknowledgment of service in front of a notary. That only saves the sheriff's fee. If your spouse won't sign, the papers are delivered to them by the sheriff, a certified process server or another person the court allows.¹

Your spouse also can't stop the divorce by refusing to agree. On the no-fault ground, it's enough that either spouse refuses to live together and there's no prospect of reconciliation. If your spouse swears there's a genuine chance to reconcile, a jury can be asked to decide that question.^{3, 4}

If your spouse is served but never answers

Your spouse usually has 30 days after being served to file an answer. If they don't, the case goes into default, though they can still open it as a matter of right within 15 more days by filing an answer and paying court costs.^{5, 6}

Georgia doesn't grant a divorce by default. You still have to prove your case. But the judge can decide the divorce, alimony, child support, custody and other issues from your sworn papers or affidavits, with or without a hearing.^{7, 2}

On the usual no-fault ground, the divorce can't be granted sooner than 30 days after your spouse is served. Ask the clerk how your court wants you to ask for a final hearing or decree.⁸

If your spouse is avoiding service

The papers don't have to be handed to your spouse personally. They can be left at your spouse's home with an adult of suitable age and discretion who lives there.¹

If your spouse is hiding to avoid being served, the law also allows newspaper notice, the same as when a spouse can't be found. Keep a record of every attempt to serve them.¹

If you can't find your spouse: the search comes first

Before a judge allows newspaper notice, you have to show you made a real effort to find your spouse, and you swear to what you did in an affidavit of diligent search, signed before a notary. Gwinnett's packet, for example, suggests checking places like these:⁹

• Their last known address and phone number
• Relatives and friends
• Their landlords and past employers
• The post office, the county tax and property records, and internet searches

Gwinnett's packet says you don't have to hire a private investigator. But the search has to be honest. Georgia's Supreme Court set aside a divorce granted by publication because the husband didn't follow up on leads he had about where his wife was living. If your spouse later shows the search wasn't real, the whole divorce can be undone.^{9, 10}

Divorce by newspaper notice, step by step

• File your divorce complaint, saying your spouse can't be found, with the affidavit of diligent search.
• Ask the judge for an order allowing service by publication. Gwinnett's packet, for example, includes a form motion and order.⁹
• The notice runs in the county's legal newspaper four times within 60 days, at least seven days apart. You deposit the cost when you file.¹
• If you know your spouse's last address, the clerk mails them the notice, the order and the complaint within 15 days after the order.¹
• Your spouse has 60 days from the date of the order to answer.¹
• After that, the court sets the final hearing. Go to it: Gwinnett's packet warns that a case can be dismissed if the person filing doesn't attend.⁹

The newspaper charges for the notice. Cobb County, for example, lists $120 plus $25 for the publisher's affidavit. If you can't afford it, ask whether your fee waiver covers it. In Gwinnett it does.^{11, 9}

What a divorce by newspaper notice can and can't do

Newspaper notice is enough for the court to end the marriage. It generally isn't enough for the court to order your spouse to pay alimony or to divide property, because that takes power over your spouse personally.¹²

Custody follows its own rules, based mainly on where the children have lived for the last 6 months. If those parts of the case matter to you, talk to a lawyer before you file, because how and where your spouse is served can change what the court can decide.¹³

If you know where your spouse is but it's outside Georgia

Having the papers delivered to your spouse in person outside Georgia can take the place of newspaper notice. Your spouse then has 30 days from that delivery to answer.¹

If your spouse lives in another country

Georgia law allows a spouse outside the United States to be served by an internationally agreed method, such as those under the Hague Service Convention. If no treaty applies, or the treaty allows other methods, service can follow that country's own law. The judge can also order another method that no treaty forbids.¹

Mexico, for example, is part of the Hague Service Convention. Under its own declaration:¹⁴

• Papers not in Spanish must come with a Spanish translation.
• Mexico objects to the convention's Article 10 methods, which include sending papers by mail. The U.S. State Department says not to use mail in countries that object to that method.¹⁵
• Mexico's central authority for these requests is the Directorate-General for Legal Affairs of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The State Department won't serve papers for you. It warns that some methods, such as a letter rogatory, can take a year or more, and that hiring a lawyer or process server abroad may be faster but may not be valid under that country's law. Because Mexico objects to the convention's direct methods, that route may not be valid there. Newspaper notice may also not be recognized in the other country.¹⁵

Every country has its own rules. Talk to a lawyer before you choose a method, especially if you'll need the other country to recognize a support or custody order.

If your spouse won't agree to the terms

A spouse who answers but won't agree on custody, support or property makes the case contested. Many courts send contested cases to mediation first, and if that doesn't settle things, the judge decides.

Contested divorce in Georgia, step by step

Related guides

• Divorce with no money: getting fees waived
• Uncontested divorce in Georgia, step by step