Whether a Georgia divorce hearing gets postponed is left almost entirely to the trial judge.
The Standard
Under OCGA 9-10-167(a), applications for a continuance are addressed to the sound legal discretion of the court and are granted or refused as the ends of justice require. An appellate court will not disturb that decision unless the discretion was manifestly abused and the party asking for the delay was actually harmed by the denial.
That is a high bar. In practice, most denials are affirmed.
Examples in Divorce Cases
For example, in McEachern v. McEachern, 260 Ga. 320 (1990), a wife asked for a continuance when a subpoenaed witness from her husband’s employer failed to appear to testify about his pension. The Georgia Supreme Court found no error, noting she had not pointed to a single document the husband promised and failed to produce, and had not shown how she was prejudiced by the witness’s absence.
Similarly, in Simmons v. Simmons, 265 Ga. 183 (1995), the result went the other way. The wife’s lawyer was told by phone that a hearing concerned only the guardian ad litem’s report, then arrived to find the court ready to try permanent custody. The trial court acknowledged the miscommunication, recessed for 30 minutes, and denied a continuance. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that where custody of children is at issue “the better practice is to issue written notification of the hearing and its scope.”
If You Never Got Notice
You do not need a continuance for a hearing you were never told about. In Randall v. Randall, 274 Ga. 107 (2001), the Court held that until a lawyer receives notice the court has actually set the case for a particular day, “he was not obligated to seek a continuance.”
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!