The year 2020 will certainly go down in history as the year most of us tried to avoid getting Covid-19 by wearing masks, social distancing, and in general limiting congregate settings.

Although Georgia doesn’t have a law mandating wearing masks and other preventive measures, the court system has taken a very cautious approach to minimizing the dangers of infection. Beginning in February and March 2020 the courts essentially shut down in-person operation. With few exceptions, no in-person trials or hearings were held. So how did people manage to get divorced in 2020? The answer, as far as I can tell, was a combination of mediated settlement agreements, uncontested divorces and a very few hearings via Zoom for urgent matters. Overall, it’s safe to say that uncontested divorces worked best during the pandemic. The main reasons were speed, low-cost and the fact that the process was online.

Georgia had been moving towards online divorces even before the pandemic. Electronic filing became mandatory in 2019. In-court appearances where only required for divorces with children. With the pandemic even that last requirement was done away with. Now the whole process of getting an uncontested divorce in Georgia is online. The attorney begins the uncontested divorce process by having a consultation with the client by phone or via Zoom. The client then receives an intake form that captures all the information the attorney needs to generate the final documents ready for notarized signatures. Once these signed documents are received by the attorney, they are filed in the clerk’s office by scanning them into the PeachTree portal. Since in Georgia requires a 31 day waiting period after filing before a divorce can be granted, a motion for judgment on the pleadings is filed 31 days after the filing of the petition for divorce. Then the motion together with a proposed final judgment and decree of divorce and other documents are forwarded to the assigned judge for signature and filing of the final order of divorce. In sum, a client can obtain a low-cost uncontested divorce in Georgia and has little as 5 to 6 weeks.

An uncontested divorce online also means that it can be a low-cost divorce, because the attorney doesn’t have to spend several hours in court for final hearings. Instead, the uncontested divorce attorney will file a motion for judgment on the pleadings, which is a request to the court to forgo a final hearing and render its final judgment of divorce based on the documents already filed.

From the client’s perspective a low-cost uncontested divorce in Georgia means that all the client has to do is fill out an intake form, sign and notarize the final documents, and wait 5 to 6 weeks for the divorce to become final. That’s it, and all for the low cost of $495 plus the filing fee for cases without children, and $995 plus the filing fee for cases with children.

This is truly a low-cost, touchless way of getting a low-cost uncontested divorce in Georgia online. Call 770-933-0780 and ask for a free consultation with a Georgia licensed attorney at the Hughes Law Office.