If the spouse you are suing for divorce does not live in Georgia, you file in the county where you live.
What the Constitution Says
The Georgia Constitution, Art. VI, Sec. II, Par. I, is quoted in Cooke v. Cooke, 277 Ga. 731 (2004): “Divorce cases shall be tried in the county where the defendant resides, if a resident of this state; if the defendant is not a resident of this state, then in the county in which plaintiff resides.” The Georgia Supreme Court put it plainly: “where (as here) a defendant in a divorce action lives outside of Georgia, the action may be brought in the plaintiff’s county of residence.”
Examples
In Cooke, the couple had lived in Fulton County for seven years before the wife and the children returned to Great Britain. The husband stayed on in the Fulton County house, and Fulton County was the proper venue for his divorce.
Similarly, in Alcorn v. Alcorn, 245 Ga. 1 (1980), a wife who lived in Muscogee County sued a husband who was not a Georgia resident, and venue in Muscogee County was proper.
A Spouse You Cannot Find Is Not a Nonresident
This is the trap. In Thorpe v. Thorpe, 268 Ga. 724 (1997), the wife filed in Wilkinson County, where she lived, because she did not know her husband’s address in Atlanta. He had been a Fulton County resident the entire time, and she had conceded as much in her own pleading. The court held that “the provision allowing for venue in plaintiff’s county when the defendant is a nonresident does not apply.”
Not knowing where your spouse lives is a service problem, and Georgia has procedures for it. It does not move the case to your county.
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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!