Contested or non-contested divorce??

Question

Ok, this is kind of lengthy so please bare with me. I live in Georgia, I have been married 10 years and I have a 12 year old daughter. Clara and I have been seperate 3 years not legally, I just moved out. 5 years ago Clara and I filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy and everything was included, house, cars, furniture, credit cards, etc. This cost me $320 a week and I still have been paying for all this even though I moved out. It was in both our names but I was the only one working at the time and it comes out of my check. I haven't been giving Clara any extra cause it's all I can do to have that out of my check plus pay for my own apartment now. I now want to file for a divorce cause I know we will not get back together, I talked to a lawyer last October about this, I told her I did not want anything, Clara could keep the house, the cars, everything, I just want divorced. I told her about the bankruptcy and she said that was ok, what they would do was look to see how much I had paid

into it that was for my part of the bankruptcy, I may still have to pay some but not all of it. She told me at that time it was going to be $800 normally $1000 but she is the wife of my cousins boss so she cut me a deal. I JUST now came up with the money, got it back from my taxes. So I e-mailed her to set up a date we could talk and this is the e-mail I got from her: “Since the last time we talked the law has changed and we increased our fees. It’s now $1,250 for uncontested and $2,500 for contested plus $100.00 filing fees. Also that I must know whether or not my wife will agree to all matters pertaining to the division of property, child custody and child support. If my wife and I had agreed to all issues it will be uncontested if not contested” I am thinking she has forgotten what my situation was. I am bumfuzzled that the cost went up and their may be an issue of being contested. I thought the courts decided on what amount of child support I gave,

Also I am not going to contest custody because I work a lot and I know Clara is a good mother; we just don’t get along at all. The ONLY time we talk is in regards to our daughter. I don’t want anything expect visitation of course and a divorce….what should I do? Any ideas or suggestion would be so helpful because at this time I don’t know what to do. Also if anyone knows of good lawyers in the Macon, Georgia area that are not outrageously priced, please let me know. Thanks.

Answer 1

I also live in the state of Georgia and My ex and I went through a divorce last year and because we agreed on who gets what and so on....I filled out all the necessary paperwork myself and all I had to do was take it the the clerks office at the courthouse and pay 100.00 filing fee and they made sure I had all the proper paper work and then set a date to go in front of the judge. Also, Georgia has a child support guideline sheet that will determine how much child support you will pay due to your income. Let me know if you have anymore questions :)

Answer 2

Okay, I m not sure if it works the same there as here. But if you guys can agree on everything before going to an attorney you can just just use the attorney for the actual filing. We did something similar. We were separated for 6 months and we agreed on everything including who got what and kids. All it cost me was 700.00 that was for his fees and court costs.
You can also look into filing it yourself. there is a way, i thought about it but was too chicken to try it. So I am sure you can find someone cheaper in the least.
Good Luck!

Answer 3

non contested