Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia

Re: Domestice abuse and want full child custody

Too hard to say at this point. If you can prove he abuses you, it will help some, but if he can show he never abuses the child it might not be fatal to his custody claims. In Georgia, a mother usually has a better chance at sole custody than a father does, but joint custody is hardly out of the question. So, you cannot be certain you can win on that.

If you file for divorce, the grandparents can get visitation rights if they apply to the court during the proceeding. Unless there is some reason to believe they will abuse or neglect the child, they will likely be successful. They cannot legally be held responsible for his abuse of you, even though they are taking no effective action to stop him. I doubt they are actually encouraging him to do it, but if they were, that might have some effects on their getting court-ordered visitation, but how could you ever show that?

The overriding question, since you want to forgive him, is how realistic do you think it is to expect that he has permanently stopped? He needs to address the behavioral disorder/sociopathic aspects of such behavior. You might insist he gets some counseling about it to reinforce the small progress he's made. And, you might make it abundantly clear to him that the next time he hits you, you are going to call the police, or get a temporary protective order against him under the Family Violence Act and have him at least temporarily removed from the premises, or both. You can be forgiving, but you can also be firm. At a minimum, you should insist on marriage counseling. There may be occasions where men spontaneously come to grips with this on their own, stop the behavior, and never repeat it. But, they are in the minority. Usually, it takes intervention of some kind. How long can you live in fear?