GA Code § 19-6-27 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 19 - Domestic Relations|Chapter 6 - Alimony and Child Support|Article 1 - General Provisions|§ 19-6-27. Application for Permanent Alimony or Child Support After Grant of Foreign Divorce Decree; Venue; Hearing; Review; Modification

  Whenever, in any foreign country or any other state of the United States, any person obtains a divorce from such person's spouse, which spouse at the time of the filing of the divorce action was a resident of this state, and in the divorce action the spouse was not personally served with petition and process but was served constructively and did not appear, plead, or otherwise waive jurisdiction of the foreign court, the spouse, at any time subsequent to the granting of the foreign divorce decree, may apply to the superior court for an order and judgment for permanent alimony for the support of such spouse and the child or children of the parties, if any. The permanent alimony action shall be filed, pleaded, and tried as if no divorce decree had been entered, even though the foreign decree may be entitled to full faith and credit in dissolving the marriage. If the person who obtained the divorce has become a resident of this state, the action for alimony shall be brought in the county of the person's residence; otherwise, the action shall be brought in the county in which the spouse applying for alimony resides.   The procedure provided for in subsection (a) of this Code section shall not be available for the support of any child or children whose custody and support was legally adjudicated in the foreign court unless custody of the child or children is subsequently changed by a court having jurisdiction of the parties.   A petition brought under this Code section shall be served upon the person who obtained the divorce, as in actions for permanent alimony, and shall be heard by the judge unless a jury trial is demanded by either party to the case. The judgment shall be reviewable as in other cases. The order or judgment shall be subject to modification upon a change of condition, in the same manner that other orders or judgments for permanent alimony are subject to modification.    (Ga. L. 1965, p. 263, §§ 1-3; Ga. L. 1979, p. 466, §§ 29-31.)   Law reviews.   - For survey article on domestic relations, see 34 Mercer L. Rev. 113 (1982). For annual survey of law of domestic relations, see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 179 (1986). For comment on Tobin v. Tobin, 93 Ga. App. 568, 92 S.E.2d 304 (1956), holding that it is no defense to an alimony judgment in a divisible divorce that one party obtained the divorce subsequent to the judgment, see 20 Ga. B.J. 118 (1957).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS    Statute is clearly remedial in the statute's purpose and is designed to remedy situations where a husband and father has obtained a divorce in another state, thus severing the marital relationship, which, under the former law, resulted in cutting off the right of the wife to apply for and have granted an enforceable judgment for alimony. Such a statute should be given an equitable and liberal construction to accomplish the statute's beneficent purposes. Spadea v. Spadea, 225 Ga. 80, 165 S.E.2d 836 (1969).   Section's intent is to indefeasibly vest right to claim alimony.    - It is definitely intent of statute to indefeasibly vest in wives (now either spouse) right to claim alimony and to cause this right to survive any scheme or trick of the husband in obtaining a divorce in another state to defeat her right to assert such claim against him in this state's courts, unhampered by any foreign divorce decree severing the relationship of wife and husband. Daniel v. Daniel, 222 Ga. 861, 152 S.E.2d 873 (1967).   Provision not applicable to division of marital assets.    - Trial court erred in finding that O.C.G.A. § 19-6-27 applied to a case where plaintiff former husband filed an action in Georgia seeking to domesticate a Texas divorce decree and to adjudicate the parties' property distribution and defendant wife counterclaimed for breach of contract and for an equitable division of property as the action before the court did not involve alimony or child support, but the equitable division of marital assets, which was not addressed by O.C.G.A. § 19-6-27. Barolia v. Pirani, 260 Ga. App. 513, 580 S.E.2d 297 (2003).   Applicability to resident spouse served with out-of-state petition.    - O.C.G.A. § 19-6-27 is of no avail to a Georgia resident spouse who is personally served with an out-of-state divorce petition. Hildebrant v. Hildebrant, 261 Ga. 603, 409 S.E.2d 206 (1991).    Statutory residency requirement of six months for divorce proceedings has not been extended to alimony proceedings. Chalfant v. Rains, 244 Ga. 747, 262 S.E.2d 63 (1979).    Alimony proceeding need not be ancillary to divorce to be valid. Chalfant v. Rains, 244 Ga. 747, 262 S.E.2d 63 (1979).    Cited in Ward v. Ward, 223 Ga. 868, 159 S.E.2d 81 (1968); Spadea v. Spadea, 225 Ga. 80, 165 S.E.2d 836 (1969); Reno v. Reno, 249 Ga. 855, 295 S.E.2d 94 (1982); Page v. Page, 255 Ga. 145, 335 S.E.2d 865 (1985); Heath v. Heath, 257 Ga. 777, 364 S.E.2d 272 (1988).   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 24A Am. Jur. 2d, Divorce and Separation, §§ 1071 et seq., 1096 et seq.   C.J.S.   - 27C C.J.S., Divorce, § 1280 et seq.   ALR.   - Foreign divorce as affecting local order previously entered for separate maintenance, 28 A.L.R.2d 1346; 49 A.L.R.3d 1266.   Valid foreign divorce granted upon constructive service as precluding action by spouse for alimony, support, or maintenance, 28 A.L.R.2d 1378.   Right of nonresident wife to maintain action for separate maintenance or alimony alone against resident husband, 36 A.L.R.2d 1369.   Validity, construction, and application of full faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act (FFCCSOA), 28 USCS § 1738B - state cases, 18 A.L.R.6th 97.