A divorce is a civil action and, as such, in Georgia, the Civil Practice Act governs the procedural issues in a divorce case. The Civil Practice Act outlines the general rules of service of process, filing of pleadings and gives timelines for certain filings. For example, one section of the Civil Practice Act specifies that a respondent "shall serve his answer within 30 days after the service of the summons and complaint upon him." O.C.G.A. § 9-11-12(a). Under the Civil Practice Act, if a Respondent does not file an Answer to a Petition within the specified time period, the Petitioner may be entitled to a default judgment, meaning the Petitioner may be awarded everything that he/she requested in the Petition. O.C.G.A. § 9-11-55.
When parties are going through a completely uncontested divorce, filing an Answer to a Petition for Divorce may seem like something that can be skipped over, but it can have dire consequences, particularly if the divorce veers into contested territory. Consider the divorce example of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin: Cold Play Slow Play in Divorce, by TMZ Staff, March 1, 2016 tmz.com. In that case, Paltrow filed for divorce in April 2015 and Martin was served in May 2015, but he never filed an Answer. Apparently, the Judge has now told the parties that Paltrow may be eligible for a default judgment, which could award her everything she asked for in her divorce petition. This divorce/conscious uncoupling has been nothing but amicable so far but, if the parties begin to disagree on major issues in their settlement discussions, Martin could be in real trouble. For example, if Paltrow asked for a disproportionate amount of the marital estate, she could receive it. In addition, if she asked for full custody of the kids, she could be awarded that as well.
Filing an Answer is fairly simple - the Respondent goes point by point through the Petition and responds to each of the allegations. For this reason, and because of the horrible position you could find yourself in if you fail to Answer, every Respondent to a divorce action should file it in a timely manner. At a minimum, the Answer will preserve your right to argue your side of the case and not give the other party an automatic win.