Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia

Divorced or Not - that is the question

Ok - this one is different; my friend went thru the courts in GA; the judge ordered the plaintiff atty to transcribe his final decree; but neither atty - not the plaintiff or defend atty did their job - no paperwork, no transcribe - nothing final was ever filed; defend atty was contacted & refused; the judge has not signed the paper either - are they divorced? because the defendant is in legal limbo (the hubby remarried & if not divorced, then is now a bigamist) - lawyers have refused to talk with this person.

I say you can only have DBL jeopardy in criminal - so can't this person go file in the proper jurisdiction? as she is not divorced - also she was never properly served at all; and that court didn't have jurisdiction anyway. the whole thing from day one was out of kilter - the judge should have thrown it out anyway but didn't - very weird case.

MAIN question - is she breaking any law to go file (not refile as she never filed) properly in the correct jurisdiction?


Asked on 7/02/07, 10:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Glen Ashman Ashman Law Office also dba Glen Ashman Attorney

Re: Divorced or Not - that is the question

Much of our question makes little sense, but two things are clear:

(1) Unless a judge signs a divorce decree there is no divorce

and

(2) As long as that case is pending, it takes precedence over any newer case, so to file again, the old case must be dismissed. If the person has some defense in the case, it must be asserted, and if a person feels their counsel has not done that, the person should get a second opinion from another lawyer.

No one can answer the other allegations in your post without reading all the pleadings.

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Answered on 7/02/07, 11:15 pm


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