A Georgia divorce is tried under the same rules of evidence as any other civil case.
Divorce Cases Follow the Ordinary Civil Rules
OCGA 19-5-8 provides that “[t]he same rules of pleading and practice applicable to ordinary civil actions shall apply to actions for divorce, alimony, and custody of minor children, except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter.” There is no relaxed standard because the case involves a family.
Georgia Rewrote Its Evidence Code in 2013
Georgia’s current Evidence Code is Title 24, and it replaced the old one on January 1, 2013. In Blue v. Hemmans, 327 Ga. App. 353 (2014), a custody modification case, the Court of Appeals quoted the effective date provision: the Act “shall apply to any motion made or hearing or trial commenced on or after such date.”
Much of the new Code tracks the Federal Rules of Evidence, and where it does, older Georgia decisions no longer control. In Davis v. State, 299 Ga. 180 (2016), the Georgia Supreme Court warned that lawyers “risk obtaining reversible evidence rulings from trial courts” when they fail to recognize “that we are all living in a new evidence world.” So treat anything you read that relies on a Georgia evidence case decided before 2013 with caution.
The Judge Can Only Use What Is in the Record
In Rodgers v. Rodgers, 358 Ga. App. 223 (2021), a trial court limited a mother to supervised visitation based on a Department of Family and Children Services safety plan that had never been offered into evidence – the judge learned of it through his staff attorney. The Court of Appeals held that “[t]he trial court is prohibited from considering matters outside the record,” and vacated the order.
Contact Us
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!