A contested divorce case is usually filed when the parties cannot agree on some issue covered by divorce such as property / asset division, division of debt, alimony / spousal support, child custody, child support, or attorney’s fees. A contested divorce should not be a person’s default course of action until the advantages of an uncontested divorce have been considered.

If you find that a contested divorce is necessary for you, you will need to assert / cite a reason for the grounds for the divorce other than irreconcilable differences. Georgia divorce law lays out the accepted reasons for divorce as listed below:

  • Intermarriage by persons within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity

  • Mental incapacity at the time of the marriage

  • Impotency at the time of marriage

  • Force, menace, duress, or fraud in obtaining the marriage

  • Pregnancy of the wife by a man other than the husband, at the time of the marriage, unknown to the husband

  • Adultery in either of the parties after marriage

  • Willful and continued desertion by either of the parties for the term of one (1) year

  • The conviction of either party for an offense involving moral turpitude, under which he is sentenced to imprisonment in a penal institution for a term of two (2) years or longer

  • Habitual intoxication

  • Cruel treatment, which shall consist of the willful infliction of pain, bodily or mental, upon the complaining party, such as reasonably justifies apprehension of danger to life, limb, or health

  • Incurable mental illness

  • Habitual drug addiction, which shall consist of addiction to any controlled substance as defined in Article 2 of Chapter 13 of Title 16

  • The marriage is irretrievably broken