In Georgia, you always have to option to come to agreement with your spouse on the child custody arrangement. However, if you cannot agree, then the court will decide custody of your children by looking at series of factors like safety, involvement, and emotional ties to determine what custody arrangement is in the best interests of the children involved. Having one of our experienced Marietta child custody attorneys guide you through this process will decrease the likelihood of getting a surprise custody arrangement and increase the likelihood that you get an arrangement that works best for you and your family. At a basic level, there are two parts to child custody, 1) time (who physically gets the child and when), and 2) Say-so (final decision-making authority for areas of education, medical, extracurricular, and religious decisions for the child).

For those with minor children, determining child support is a critical issue. How is child support determined in Georgia? The specific monthly child support amount is calculated using Georgia's Online Child Support Calculator. This calculator takes into account the monthly incomes of both parents and the number of children and creates an exact monthly child support number. It is important to remember that typically the parent that is deemed the "non-custodial" parent (meaning they have less physical time with the child than the other parent), will be the parent designated to pay a monthly child support obligation. Everyone's situation is different and there may be unique circumstances in your case that require the child support amount to be adjusted or deviated. It's best to consider hiring one of our experienced Marietta child support lawyers to assist you with child support.

Whether or not you will pay or receive alimony in Georgia depends on a specific analysis. To determine alimony, the court will consider the requesting party's "need" for alimony and balance that with the paying party's "ability to pay." Alimony is not right for every case. The court will also consider the length of the marriage. For example, a 1-year marriage is likely to result in no alimony. On the other hand, a 30-year marriage has a much higher likelihood of resulting in alimony. It is best to call one of our experienced Marietta alimony attorneys to help you go through this analysis and see what the realistic likelihood of alimony will be in your case.

Be careful assuming that you get half of everything in a divorce. That is not true in Georgia. Georgia is not a community property state where everything is split 50/50. In Georgia, assets, property, retirement and debts are split up "equitably" NOT "equally." If the judge deems it equitable, you could receive a 70/30 split or even a 10/90 split. Consider hiring one of our experienced Marietta equitable division lawyers to help you go through all the possible scenarios and get you the division of assets and retirement that works best for you and your family.

Now that you know how our core values guide us to amazing customer service and representation and what exactly you'll be getting from Meriwether & Tharp, the next question is - what's it like to be a client at Meriwether & Tharp?