Georgia Divorce Grounds
Each divorce in the United State requires that there be grounds for why the divorce is necessary or requested. These grounds are different for each state, so the grounds for which an individual files needs to be legal in the state of Georgia.

In this state one individual may file for a divorce but will have to prove the grounds for which he or she is filing in a court of law. Both spouses may file for a divorce together and conclude to why a divorce is requested.

Georgia grounds for divorce are separated into two different categories. The first category is called the No-Fault based grounds.

In Georgia these grounds include an irretrievably broken marriage and at least thirty days must pass before a divorce can be granted. Usually under these grounds the couple has sought marriage counseling. No-Fault based grounds do not name one individual as responsible for the divorce.

Fault based grounds often name one individual responsible for at least one spouse requesting a divorce. These grounds include mental incapacitation, the intermarriage of individuals within any prohibited levels of affinity or consanguinity, pregnancy due to another man outside of the marriage while the couple is still marriage, impotence during the time period where the couple was wed, duress, fraud, force, the conviction of a felony offense resulting in an imprisonment term of two years or more, adultery, cruel treatment, habitual drug usage or drunkenness, continued and willful desertion of one year or more, or an irreversible mental illness.

Georgia Residential Requirements
Before filing for divorce individuals must be state residents for at least one year before a petition is filed. This also includes those who are stationed in Georgia on active military duty or for military reservation but lowers the timeline to six months of residency.

All divorces are to be filed to the Georgia bankruptcy court of the county in which an individual resides. If both spouses reside in Georgia a divorce can be petitioned at either county of residency. If the petitioner resides outside Georgia state lines then he or she is allowed to petition for divorce in the Georgia county where his or her spouse resides.

Georgia Child Custody Laws
In the case of violence in a divorcing family, the court has the right to prohibit visitations if the violence has been presented to the court. Children who are over the age of fourteen have the right in Georgia to decide which parent he or she wants to live.

The child has the foremost right in this situation unless the chosen parent relinquishes parental rights and states that he or she is an unfit parent. For children who are between the ages of eleven and fourteen the court will consider the child's desires and the educational necessities involved.

The court may choose to overrule a child's parent choice if it sees that parent as unfit. The first and foremost decision for the court is to look at which situation is best for the child. Most often the parental desires are not always considered.