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2018 Georgia Code 19-9-5 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 19-9-5 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 19-9-5

TITLE 19 DOMESTIC RELATIONS

Section 9. Child Custody Proceedings, 19-9-1 through 19-9-134.

ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

19-9-5. Custody agreements; ratification; supplementation.

  1. In all proceedings under this article between parents, it shall be expressly permissible for the parents of a child to present to the judge an agreement respecting any and all issues concerning custody of the child. As used in this Code section, the term "custody" shall include, without limitation, joint custody as such term is defined in Code Section 19-9-6. As used in this Code section, the term "custody" shall not include payment of child support.
  2. The judge shall ratify the agreement and make such agreement a part of the judge's final judgment in the proceedings unless the judge makes specific written factual findings as a part of the final judgment that under the circumstances of the parents and the child in such agreement that the agreement would not be in the best interests of the child. The judge shall not refuse to ratify such agreement and to make such agreement a part of the final judgment based solely upon the parents' choice to use joint custody as a part of such agreement.
  3. In his or her judgment, the judge may supplement the agreement on issues not covered by such agreement.

(Code 1981, §19-9-5, enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 1585, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2135, § 1; Ga. L. 2007, p. 554, § 5/HB 369; Ga. L. 2008, p. 324, § 19/SB 455.)

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2007, p. 554, § 1/HB 369, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "The General Assembly of Georgia declares that it is the policy of this state to assure that minor children have frequent and continuing contact with parents who have shown the ability to act in the best interests of their children and to encourage parents to share in the rights and responsibilities of rearing their children after the parents have separated or dissolved their marriage or relationship."

Ga. L. 2007, p. 554, § 8/HB 369, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the 2007 amendment shall apply to all child custody proceedings and modifications of child custody filed on or after January 1, 2008.

Law reviews.

- For annual survey of domestic relations law, see 58 Mercer L. Rev. 133 (2006). For note, "Surrogate Mother Agreements in Georgia: Conflict and Accord with Statutory and Case Law," see 4 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 153 (1988). For note on 1992 amendment of this Code section, see 9 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 243 (1992).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Support award not precluded by joint custody award.

- Judgment awarding joint legal custody of a child does not preclude a monetary award of child support. Hunt v. Carter, 261 Ga. 259, 404 S.E.2d 121 (1991).

Consideration of postnuptial reconciliation agreement.

- As a trial court did not base the court's custody decision in the parties' divorce action solely on their postnuptial reconciliation agreement pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 19-9-5(b), but instead the court found that the custody arrangement encompassed within the agreement was in the children's best interests pursuant to the factors under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-3(a)(3)(A)-(Q), there was no abuse of discretion in the custody award. Spurlin v. Spurlin, 289 Ga. 818, 716 S.E.2d 209 (2011).

Authority to conduct best interests analysis.

- Trial court erroneously found that the court had no discretion to consider whether the parties' agreement, voluntarily terminating the father's parental rights under O.C.G.A. § 19-7-1 as part of the divorce settlement, was in the best interests of the child; the trial court, which had authority under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-5(b) to reject a custody agreement as being against the child's best interests and which had authority under O.C.G.A. § 15-11-94(a) to ascertain whether a voluntary termination was in the child's best interests, was to reject the agreement if it was not in the child's best interests. Taylor v. Taylor, 280 Ga. 88, 623 S.E.2d 477 (2005).

Agreed upon modification to custody and visitation erroneously omitted.

- Trial court erred in omitting the agreed upon modification to weekend custody and visitation in the court's final order. Williams v. Williams, 295 Ga. 113, 757 S.E.2d 859 (2014).

Cited in Gould v. Gould, 240 Ga. App. 481, 523 S.E.2d 106 (1999); Petry v. Romo, 249 Ga. App. 99, 547 S.E.2d 736 (2001); Moore v. Moore-McKinney, 297 Ga. App. 703, 678 S.E.2d 152 (2009).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Sufficiency of evidence to modify existing joint legal custody of children pursuant to consent order and/or divorce judgment - general principles, jurisdictional issues, and general issues related to "best interests of child," 99 A.L.R.6th 203.

Sufficiency of evidence to modify existing joint legal custody of children pursuant to consent order and/or divorce judgment - conduct or condition of parents; evidentiary issues, 100 A.L.R.6th 1.

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 19-9-5

Total Results: 5  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

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Williams v. Williams, 295 Ga. 113 (Ga. 2014).

Cited 29 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Apr 22, 2014 | 757 S.E.2d 859, 2014 Fulton County D. Rep. 1167

...Monday] visitation schedule, to the extent that it reflected that [Husband’s visitation would end on Sunday night], was not a valid exercise of the trial court's discretion but a mistake in reflecting a matter agreed upon by the parties. See generally OCGA § 19-9-5 (a) (parents may present an agreement “respecting any and all issues concerning custody of the child”). Moore v....
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Taylor v. Taylor, 623 S.E.2d 477 (Ga. 2005).

Cited 10 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Dec 1, 2005 | 280 Ga. 88, 2005 Fulton County D. Rep. 3738

...approve it as a whole,'" quoting Amos v. Amos, 212 Ga. 670, 671, 95 S.E.2d 5 (1956)); Stanton v. Stanton, 213 Ga. 545, 549, 100 S.E.2d 289 (1957) (parents' custody agreement subrogated to the paramount issue of the best interest of the child); OCGA § 19-9-5(b) (court has discretion to ratify or reject parties' custody agreement according to its determination regarding the best interest of the child)....
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Spurlin v. Spurlin, 716 S.E.2d 209 (Ga. 2011).

Cited 6 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 3, 2011 | 289 Ga. 818, 2011 Fulton County D. Rep. 3026

...ion, but that the court retained the duty and authority to make determinations as to child custody and child support. After a bench trial, the trial court entered a final divorce decree, wherein it ratified the postnuptial agreement pursuant to OCGA § 19-9-5(b), finding that joint legal custody and primary physical custody in Husband was in the best interests of the children at the time the agreement was signed and that it is still in their best interests....
...signing of the postnuptial agreement, and the court further stated that she "did not present any persuasive evidence that it would not be in the best interests of the minor children to ratify the post-nuptial agreement of 2007 as required under OCGA § 19-9-5(b)." The property awards in the final judgment, including the marital residence, were also consistent with the postnuptial agreement....
...Wife also contends that the trial court erred in determining that child custody was governed by a postnuptial agreement signed more than two years earlier during the marriage, in relying upon a lack of any *212 evidence from Wife of a change in circumstances since that time, in ratifying that agreement pursuant to OCGA § 19-9-5(b) even though this statute is applicable only to agreements reached during the pendency of a divorce, and in ignoring the statutory factors for determining custody....
...Again, we assume that those findings were supported by sufficient competent evidence. Holmes v. Roberson-Holmes, supra. This separate analysis would have been superfluous if the trial court was relying solely on its separate ratification of the postnuptial agreement pursuant to OCGA § 19-9-5(b)....
...n its alternative application of the "best interests" standard pursuant to OCGA § 19-9-3. See LaFont v. Rouviere, 283 Ga. 60, 62(2), 656 S.E.2d 522 (2008). Therefore, pretermitting the postnuptial agreement's relevance and the applicability of OCGA § 19-9-5, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's custody award....
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Robinson v. Robinson, 404 S.E.2d 435 (Ga. 1991).

Cited 6 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | May 23, 1991 | 261 Ga. 330

...courts are required to ratify agreements made between the parents and make them part of the court's final judgment "unless the court makes specific factual findings that the agreement would not be in the best interest of the child or children." OCGA § 19-9-5 (b).
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Hunt v. Carter, 261 Ga. 259 (Ga. 1991).

Cited 2 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | May 15, 1991 | 404 S.E.2d 121

...OCGA § 19-7-2 describes the statutory duty of both parents to support their child.1 *260Decided May 15, 1991. Lennard, Habibi & Rychlik, David M. Rychlik, Charles S. Hunter, for appellant. Duffy & Feemster, Robert J. Duffy, Dwight T. Feemster, T. Michael Martin, for appellee. 2. OCGA § 19-9-5 provides expressly that “the term ‘custody’ shall not include payment of child support.” 2 Hence, a parent may be required to support a child, notwithstanding the existence of “joint legal custody,” as defined in OCGA § 19-9-6...