Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia

You should hire a Georgia family law attorney to represent you. Even if you don't hire an attorney, you need to respond to the complaint for divorce in a timely manner. You only hurt yourself by failing to answer the complaint -- the Court will basically act as though you agree to everything in your wife's version of events. Don't delay!

There is alimony in Georgia. The division of marital property is not necessarily 50/50 -- it's called an "equitable division" and depends on a variety of factors, including the length of the marriage.

Very generally, here are the rules for determining what's marital property and what isn't:

* Marital property includes all earnings during marriage and everything acquired with those earnings. All debts incurred during marriage, unless the creditor was specifically looking to the separate property of one spouse for payment, are marital property debts.

* Non-marital property of one spouse includes gifts and inheritances given just to that spouse, personal injury awards received by that spouse, and the proceeds of a pension that vested (that is, the pensioner became legally entitled to receive it) before marriage. Property purchased with the separate funds of a spouse remain that spouse's separate property. A business owned by one spouse before the marriage remains his or her separate property during the marriage, although a portion of it may be considered marital property if the business increased in value during the marriage or both spouses worked at it.

* Property purchased with a combination of separate and marital funds is part marital and part non-marital property, so long as a spouse is able to show that some separate funds were used. Non-marital property mixed together with marital property generally becomes marital property.

Best of luck.*******The above is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client privilege.********

When you get served with papers, immediately get counsel. There are but 30 days to answer, and the failure to answer can give the other party a major advantage. Wghen you are served, that means the other party did NOT want an agreement at the time of filing, so assume you are in, at least for now, a battle that affects all your assets, debts and earnings.

Georgia does allow alimony. Property divisions may be other than 50-50 under what is known as equitable division. While assets owned before the marriage are not divided per se, things that happen to those assets after the marriage can be divided.