Georgia custody is easy to understand once you know how the system really works.
And that becomes a pain in the wallet for you, because what the politicians in Tallahassee tell you about child custody in Georgia isn't always true.
The system isn't anywhere near as fair as they want you to believe.
When looking at child custody guidelines in Georgia, there will be references to "primary caretaker" and "more qualified" parent.
What you won't see listed in any of the official guidelines are all the intangible criteria that are actually used to determine child custody in the real world.
And that means if you and your spouse are unable to establish a child custody arrangement, the state will decide where your children live.
The establishment of child custody starts with filing a motion at your local Georgia county family law courthouse.
At some point, the county assigns a Georgia custody evaluator to meet with all the parties involved; including the school, doctors, etc.
The county will conduct an evaluation to determine which of you is the best parent for the children.
The process begins with an evaluation performed by an assigned evaluator.
Even better, expect to be subjected to a psychological profile and at the end of this process, the custody evaluator will write a report and submit that to family court.
The completed evaluation report will be sent to you.
Many people think custody is determined by the judge in your case, the fact is custody is determined by the evaluator, not a judge.
The evaluators report is simply read by the judge and rubber stamped, because they know almost nothing about you, your spouse, your children, or your family situation.
Because there's no way the judge is going to overrule the evaluators recommendation after they have conducted extensive research and issued their report.
In a highly contested dispute, a judge will order the guardian ad litem to protect the children's interests during the custody evaluation.
This person will not decide custody, but will act as a advocate of the children to ensure the children's interests are protected while the parents argue about custody.
The guardian ad litem can be a lawyer or social worker as long as they are approved by the court and there are private guardians along with public ones employed by your local Georgia county.
Private guardians charge from $50 per hour to $400, where public guardians generally charge less.
Typically the cost of the guardian ad litem is shared by each spouse.
If you can't afford a guardian ad litem, typically one is provided free of change.
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