Until a pretrial order is entered in your case, you can amend your Georgia divorce complaint whenever you like, and you do not need anyone’s permission.
The Statute
OCGA 19-5-8 applies the ordinary rules of civil pleading and practice to divorce, alimony, and custody actions. The one that governs here is OCGA 9-11-15(a): “A party may amend his pleading as a matter of course and without leave of court at any time before the entry of a pretrial order.”
“As a matter of course” is the operative phrase. You do not file a motion, the judge does not rule on it, and your spouse does not have to agree. You file the amendment and it is part of the case.
What the Cut-Off Actually Is
The line is the entry of the pretrial order, not the trial date, not the discovery deadline, and not the passage of any particular number of months. Many Georgia divorce cases resolve without a pretrial order ever being entered, and in those cases the right never closes.
Hudson v. Hudson, 309 Ga. App. 449 (2011), makes the point. A former husband filed a complaint for equitable relief concerning a house his ex-wife had been given in the divorce, and then amended to add a count asking the court to interpret the divorce judgment itself. The trial court dismissed the whole complaint without ever addressing the new count.
The Court of Appeals reversed, noting that “[n]o pretrial order is contained in the record before us” and that the declaratory judgment count had been “added by proper amendment to appellant’s complaint.” An amendment made before any pretrial order is entered is simply part of the pleadings, and the court has to deal with it.
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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!