Amendment Extending Georgia Divorce Waiting Period to 120 Days Gets Shot Down by State House!
Late last week, the Georgia House struck down a proposal that would extend the waiting period to obtain a divorce in the Peach State to 120 days. Specifically, an Atlanta-Journal Constitution story detailed that the House rejected this divorce waiting period amendment to House Bill 369, a measure dealing with Georgia child custody proceedings. Senator Mitch Seabaugh had added this proposal to HB 369 late Thursday before the House stripped it out of the bill, which was approved by a whopping 138-1 vote on Friday afternoon. Current Georgia divorce law mandates a waiting period of 30 days to obtain an uncontested divorce.
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution story detailed how Seabaugh has been pushing for a longer waiting period for couples with children to divorce in Georgia for the past two years. After a similar proposed Georgia divorce law cleared the Senate in 2005, it was rejected in the House last year. Prior to its removal from HB 369, Seabaugh had said that such an amendment extending the Georgia divorce waiting period was not about ideology or politics but rather about the well-being and common good of kids and couples.
Apparently, the Georgia House did not see so when stripping this amendment, which would have also required a divorcing couple with children to attend an educational workshop detailing the effects of divorce on children. These Georgia divorce courses would have been taught by marriage and family therapists, social workers or professional counselors.
Georgia is not the only state to recently consider extending the waiting period for a divorce. Legislators in Tennessee and Alabama have recently considered similar legislation. Frequently visit The Divorce Blog for the latest updates on these and other proposed divorce laws throughout the country.
July 12th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
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