Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia

Re: Domestication of Foreign Judgment

The process is fairly simple under the statute (OCGA section 19-9-55 for custody orders under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and 9-12-130 for the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act) and involves filing a exemplified copy of the foreign order in the Clerk's Office and mailing a copy to the other side. An exemplified copy is a little fancier than a certified copy and involves the Clerk certifying the authentcity of the copy, a judge of the court certifying the clerk's signature and the clerk certifying the judge's signature. Although the process is fairly straightforward, after seeing several recent Georgia Supreme Court cases where the process was done incorrectly, I can tell you that it is important for you to locate an attorney who can help you do it properly.