Georgia: Superior Court, Three Lanes

Statutes

• O.C.G.A. § 15-1-4 — Contempt Powers of Courts

  Georgia courts may issue attachments and inflict summary punishment for contempt for “disobedience or resistance by any officer of the courts, party, juror, witness, or other person or persons to any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of the courts.” This general contempt power is how a Georgia custody or visitation order is enforced; O.C.G.A. § 19-9-3 provides no enforcement remedy of its own.

• O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15 — Child Support Guidelines for Determining Amount of Award

  Georgia uses an income-shares model: the basic support obligation is read from a statutory table keyed to the parents' combined adjusted gross income and the number of children, then adjusted by a mandatory parenting-time adjustment, a low-income adjustment, and any deviations. Current through the 2025 session, effective January 1, 2026.

• O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15(c), (i), (j), (k) - Rebuttable Presumption; Deviations; Involuntary Loss of Income; Modification of Child Support

  The guideline amount is a rebuttable presumption in every proceeding, and a court or jury may deviate from it only with written findings stating the reasons, the amount the guidelines would have required, how the presumptive amount would be unjust or inappropriate, and how the deviation serves the child's best interest; no deviation may seriously impair the custodial parent's ability to maintain minimally adequate housing, food and clothing for the child. A parent may petition to modify only on a substantial change in either parent's income and financial status or the child's needs, and may not file again within two years of the final order on that parent's previous modification petition unless the noncustodial parent failed to exercise, or exercised more than, the ordered parenting time, or the petition rests on an involuntary loss of income. For an involuntary loss of income of 25 percent or more (job loss, health, incarceration and similar), the support attributable to the lost income stops accruing from service of the modification petition, but leaving a job without good cause does not count as involuntary, and the court may phase in a new award over up to one year. A custodial parent who wins an upward modification based on the noncustodial parent's failure to be available and willing to exercise court-ordered parenting time shall be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and litigation expenses. The text is the Georgia Child Support Commission's copy current through the 2025 session; HB 1268 (2026) made editorial amendments to § 19-6-15 effective July 1, 2026.

• O.C.G.A. § 19-9-3 — Establishment and Review of Child Custody and Visitation

  Neither parent has a prima-facie right to custody and no form of custody is presumed; the judge alone awards custody on the child's best interests, weighing 17 enumerated factors. A child 14 or older may select the custodial parent (presumptive unless contrary to best interests, and itself a possible material change once per two years); for ages 11-13 the child's wishes are considered but not controlling. Visitation or parenting time may be reviewed and modified without a material-change showing, no more than once every two years.

• O.C.G.A. §§ 19-13-3(b)-(d), 19-13-4(a)(4) - Ex Parte Family Violence Order; Temporary Custody; Hearing Within 30 Days

  On a verified petition alleging specific facts showing probable cause that family violence has occurred in the past and may occur in the future, the court may order ex parte the temporary relief it deems necessary to protect the petitioner or a minor of the household from violence, and that order stays in effect until the court dismisses it or the hearing occurs, whichever comes first. Among the relief a family violence protective order may grant is temporary custody of minor children and temporary visitation. A hearing must be held within ten days of filing or as soon as practical, but no later than 30 days after filing, at which the petitioner must prove the allegations by a preponderance of the evidence; if no hearing is held within 30 days the petition stands dismissed unless the parties agree otherwise, though the court may delay dismissal 30 more days if it finds a party is avoiding service to delay the hearing.