Syfert Injury Law Firm

Your Trusted Partner in Personal Injury & Workers' Compensation

Call Now: 904-383-7448

2018 Georgia Code 19-6-27 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 19-6-27 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 19-6-27

TITLE 19 DOMESTIC RELATIONS

Section 6. Alimony and Child Support, 19-6-1 through 19-6-53.

ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

19-6-27. Application for permanent alimony or child support after grant of foreign divorce decree; venue; hearing; review; modification.

  1. Whenever, in any foreign country or any other state of the United States, any person obtains a divorce from such person's spouse, which spouse at the time of the filing of the divorce action was a resident of this state, and in the divorce action the spouse was not personally served with petition and process but was served constructively and did not appear, plead, or otherwise waive jurisdiction of the foreign court, the spouse, at any time subsequent to the granting of the foreign divorce decree, may apply to the superior court for an order and judgment for permanent alimony for the support of such spouse and the child or children of the parties, if any. The permanent alimony action shall be filed, pleaded, and tried as if no divorce decree had been entered, even though the foreign decree may be entitled to full faith and credit in dissolving the marriage. If the person who obtained the divorce has become a resident of this state, the action for alimony shall be brought in the county of the person's residence; otherwise, the action shall be brought in the county in which the spouse applying for alimony resides.
  2. The procedure provided for in subsection (a) of this Code section shall not be available for the support of any child or children whose custody and support was legally adjudicated in the foreign court unless custody of the child or children is subsequently changed by a court having jurisdiction of the parties.
  3. A petition brought under this Code section shall be served upon the person who obtained the divorce, as in actions for permanent alimony, and shall be heard by the judge unless a jury trial is demanded by either party to the case. The judgment shall be reviewable as in other cases. The order or judgment shall be subject to modification upon a change of condition, in the same manner that other orders or judgments for permanent alimony are subject to modification.

(Ga. L. 1965, p. 263, §§ 1-3; Ga. L. 1979, p. 466, §§ 29-31.)

Law reviews.

- For survey article on domestic relations, see 34 Mercer L. Rev. 113 (1982). For annual survey of law of domestic relations, see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 179 (1986). For comment on Tobin v. Tobin, 93 Ga. App. 568, 92 S.E.2d 304 (1956), holding that it is no defense to an alimony judgment in a divisible divorce that one party obtained the divorce subsequent to the judgment, see 20 Ga. B.J. 118 (1957).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Statute is clearly remedial in the statute's purpose and is designed to remedy situations where a husband and father has obtained a divorce in another state, thus severing the marital relationship, which, under the former law, resulted in cutting off the right of the wife to apply for and have granted an enforceable judgment for alimony. Such a statute should be given an equitable and liberal construction to accomplish the statute's beneficent purposes. Spadea v. Spadea, 225 Ga. 80, 165 S.E.2d 836 (1969).

Section's intent is to indefeasibly vest right to claim alimony.

- It is definitely intent of statute to indefeasibly vest in wives (now either spouse) right to claim alimony and to cause this right to survive any scheme or trick of the husband in obtaining a divorce in another state to defeat her right to assert such claim against him in this state's courts, unhampered by any foreign divorce decree severing the relationship of wife and husband. Daniel v. Daniel, 222 Ga. 861, 152 S.E.2d 873 (1967).

Provision not applicable to division of marital assets.

- Trial court erred in finding that O.C.G.A. § 19-6-27 applied to a case where plaintiff former husband filed an action in Georgia seeking to domesticate a Texas divorce decree and to adjudicate the parties' property distribution and defendant wife counterclaimed for breach of contract and for an equitable division of property as the action before the court did not involve alimony or child support, but the equitable division of marital assets, which was not addressed by O.C.G.A. § 19-6-27. Barolia v. Pirani, 260 Ga. App. 513, 580 S.E.2d 297 (2003).

Applicability to resident spouse served with out-of-state petition.

- O.C.G.A. § 19-6-27 is of no avail to a Georgia resident spouse who is personally served with an out-of-state divorce petition. Hildebrant v. Hildebrant, 261 Ga. 603, 409 S.E.2d 206 (1991).

Statutory residency requirement of six months for divorce proceedings has not been extended to alimony proceedings. Chalfant v. Rains, 244 Ga. 747, 262 S.E.2d 63 (1979).

Alimony proceeding need not be ancillary to divorce to be valid. Chalfant v. Rains, 244 Ga. 747, 262 S.E.2d 63 (1979).

Cited in Ward v. Ward, 223 Ga. 868, 159 S.E.2d 81 (1968); Spadea v. Spadea, 225 Ga. 80, 165 S.E.2d 836 (1969); Reno v. Reno, 249 Ga. 855, 295 S.E.2d 94 (1982); Page v. Page, 255 Ga. 145, 335 S.E.2d 865 (1985); Heath v. Heath, 257 Ga. 777, 364 S.E.2d 272 (1988).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 24A Am. Jur. 2d, Divorce and Separation, §§ 1071 et seq., 1096 et seq.

C.J.S.

- 27C C.J.S., Divorce, § 1280 et seq.

ALR.

- Foreign divorce as affecting local order previously entered for separate maintenance, 28 A.L.R.2d 1346; 49 A.L.R.3d 1266.

Valid foreign divorce granted upon constructive service as precluding action by spouse for alimony, support, or maintenance, 28 A.L.R.2d 1378.

Right of nonresident wife to maintain action for separate maintenance or alimony alone against resident husband, 36 A.L.R.2d 1369.

Validity, construction, and application of full faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act (FFCCSOA), 28 USCS § 1738B - state cases, 18 A.L.R.6th 97.

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 19-6-27

Total Results: 7  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

Copy

Jones v. Jones, 632 S.E.2d 121 (Ga. 2006).

Cited 40 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jul 6, 2006 | 280 Ga. 712, 2006 Fulton County D. Rep. 2186

...o July 1, 1977"); OCGA § 19-6-22 (authorizing party obligated to pay alimony to pay attorney fees in modification action incurred by former spouse "either on behalf of the former spouse, or the child or children, or both, in defense thereof"); OCGA § 19-6-27(a) (after grant of foreign divorce, resident spouse may seek "permanent alimony for the support of such spouse and the child or children of the parties, if any")....
Copy

Holler v. Holler, 354 S.E.2d 140 (Ga. 1987).

Cited 18 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Apr 9, 1987 | 257 Ga. 27

...The right to permanent alimony in conjunction with divorce is derivable solely from statutory law, Summerlin v. Summerlin, 247 Ga. 5 (274 SE2d 523) (1981); Lloyd v. Lloyd, 183 Ga. 751 (189 SE 903) (1937), and the statutory law in OCGA §§ 19-6-18 through 19-6-27 "provides the exclusive method by which the alimony provisions of a divorce decree may be revised and modified." Fuller v....
Copy

Spivey v. McClellan, 378 S.E.2d 123 (Ga. 1989).

Cited 16 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Apr 13, 1989 | 259 Ga. 181

...rs after the decree was entered. The court also decided that the lease was void because Ms. Spivey had no possessory interest in the property. We conclude that the court erred. It is well settled that the procedure set out in OCGA § 19-6-18 through 19-6-27 is the "exclusive method by which the alimony provisions of a divorce decree may be revised and modified." Holler v....
Copy

Williams v. Williams, 485 S.E.2d 772 (Ga. 1997).

Cited 6 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jun 2, 1997 | 268 Ga. 126, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 1910

...19-6 is not sufficiently broad to include the revision or modification of awards of equitable division of property within the scope of OCGA § 19-6-19." Holler v. Holler, 257 Ga. 27, 28, 354 S.E.2d 140 (1987). The statutory law in OCGA § § 19-6-18 through 19-6-27 `provides the exclusive method by which the alimony provisions of a divorce decree may be revised and modified.' [Cit.] ......
Copy

Heath v. Heath, 364 S.E.2d 272 (Ga. 1988).

Cited 5 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Feb 4, 1988 | 257 Ga. 777

...sufficient minimum contacts with the state. From the record it appears that because of husband's contacts with the state and wife's residency the Georgia court has in personam jurisdiction over both parties and may decide their property rights. OCGA § 19-6-27 allows a Georgia resident to pursue a claim for alimony after a divorce has been granted in another state under certain circumstances....
...For this reason, the dismissal of the claim for alimony and property division should be without prejudice. We therefore remand the case to the trial court for an order of dismissal consistent with this opinion so as to preserve the rights of the wife to proceed under the provisions of OCGA § 19-6-27....
Copy

Page v. Page, 255 Ga. 145 (Ga. 1985).

Cited 3 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Nov 5, 1985 | 335 S.E.2d 865

...Superior courts clearly possess “ ‘jurisdiction of the class of cases to which [alimony cases] belong.’ Zeagler v. Zeagler, 192 Ga. 453, 456 (15 SE2d 478) (1941).” Hopkins v. Hopkins. 237 Ga. 845, 846 (229 SE2d 751) (1976). The Chalfant court distinguished a separate, procedural, bar, *147found in OCGA § 19-6-27, against an alimony suit independent of a divorce suit or a suit for separate maintenance. OCGA § 19-6-27 provides that when one spouse wins a judgment for divorce in a foreign state pursuant to constructive rather than personal service, the resident spouse who has been constructively served may apply for alimony in Georgia “as if no divorce...
...seem to bar a suit for alimony, such as the one in this case, which follows a foreign divorce in which the party claiming alimony was the defendant and was personally served. As the appellee’s post-judgment complaint involved a violation of OCGA § 19-6-27, and not “some nonamendable defect which does not appear on the face of the record or the pleadings,” or lack of jurisdiction over the person or subject matter, the appellee may not properly bring a motion to set aside the judgment for alimony in this case on the grounds asserted....
Copy

Hildebrant v. Hildebrant, 261 Ga. 603 (Ga. 1991).

Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 18, 1991 | 409 S.E.2d 206

...Relying on Heath v. Heath, 257 Ga. 777, 778 (364 SE2d 272) (1988), Mrs. Hildebrant contends that, even if the Texas judgment is entitled to full faith and credit, she is entitled to seek alimony in Georgia. We disagree. Heath supra, 257 Ga. at 778, was based on OCGA § 19-6-27, which provides that if a person who resides in a state other than Georgia obtains a divorce in that state from his or her spouse, and if the spouse is a resident of Georgia and was not personally served with the divorce petition, the Georgia spouse may, if certain other conditions are satisfied, file an action for permanent alimony in Georgia. OCGA § 19-6-27, however, is of no avail to Mrs....