Seminole County Dissolution Of Marriage Records
Seminole County dissolution of marriage records are on file with the Superior Court Clerk in Donalsonville, the county seat of this small southwest Georgia county. Whether you want to search for an existing dissolution of marriage case, request a certified copy of a final decree, or get basic facts about filing a petition in Seminole County, this page gives you the contact details and statewide resources you need to start that process.
Seminole County Quick Facts
Superior Court Clerk of Seminole County
The Superior Court Clerk for Seminole County is located at 200 South Knox Avenue, Donalsonville, GA 39845. The phone number is (229) 524-2525. This office is responsible for all dissolution of marriage filings in Seminole County, from the initial petition through the final decree. The clerk maintains the official case file for each dissolution, including all documents filed by both parties, court orders, and the final judgment.
Seminole County is part of the Southwestern Judicial Circuit in Georgia. This multi-county circuit covers several counties in the southwest corner of the state. Judges in the Southwestern Circuit travel between county courthouses to hold hearings, which can affect scheduling for dissolution of marriage cases. For contested cases that require a hearing, the wait for a court date may be longer than in a single-county circuit because judge time is shared across the circuit.
The Superior Court Clerks of Georgia organization at gaclerks.org maintains contact information and resources for all 159 Georgia county clerks. If you need to confirm current office hours or verify the address for the Seminole County clerk before visiting Donalsonville, this is a reliable place to check.
Searching Dissolution Records for Seminole County Online
The GSCCCA Portal is the primary online tool for searching Superior Court civil filings in Georgia, including dissolution of marriage records in Seminole County. You can search by the names of the parties to find basic case information, such as filing dates and case numbers, without traveling to Donalsonville. The GSCCCA is run by the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority and covers all Georgia counties.
Document image availability on the GSCCCA portal can be limited for smaller, more rural counties. Seminole County has a small filing volume, and older records may not be fully digitized. If you find case index data but cannot access full document images, call the clerk at (229) 524-2525 to ask about ordering physical copies.
The image below shows the Find My Clerk directory at gaclerks.org, which helps you locate the correct Superior Court Clerk's office in any Georgia county, including Seminole County in Donalsonville.
For eCertification of court documents, the GSCCCA eCertification system may be available for Seminole County if the county participates. Check the eCertification portal to see whether online certified copy requests are accepted for this county.
Note: The re:SearchGA court search tool covers 25 Georgia counties, and Seminole County is unlikely to be among them given its small size.
Filing a Dissolution of Marriage Petition in Seminole County
To start a dissolution of marriage in Seminole County, at least one spouse must have been a Georgia resident for six months prior to filing. The case is filed in the county where the defendant lives, or in the plaintiff's county if the defendant resides outside Georgia. Seminole County residents whose spouses also live in the county would file with the Superior Court Clerk in Donalsonville.
Seminole County's small size and rural setting mean that the clerk's office handles a modest number of dissolutions each year compared to metro counties. This can make the in-person experience more personal and the staff more available to answer questions. That said, hearing dates for contested cases still depend on circuit-wide scheduling since judges serve multiple counties.
In an uncontested dissolution of marriage, both parties agree on all terms before filing and the court simply reviews and approves the settlement. These cases generally move through faster once the mandatory 30-day waiting period has passed. Contested cases, where the parties disagree on property, children, or support, require hearings and can take considerably longer.
Georgia's eFiling platform, PeachCourt, accepts Superior Court filings electronically and can be used for Seminole County dissolution of marriage cases. This is especially useful for parties who live far from Donalsonville or want to avoid multiple in-person courthouse trips.
Note: Even in simple, uncontested cases, the 30-day waiting period after service is mandatory under Georgia law and cannot be waived.
Certified Copies and Verification Services
Certified copies of dissolution of marriage decrees for Seminole County cases are available from the clerk at 200 South Knox Avenue in Donalsonville. You can request them in person or by mail. Mail requests should include the full names of both parties, the approximate year the case was filed, the case number if known, and a check or money order for the current fee. Call (229) 524-2525 to confirm the fee before mailing.
If the dissolution occurred between 1952 and 1996, the Georgia DPH Vital Records office offers a statewide divorce verification service. The image below shows the Georgia DPH page where Form 3917 verification requests can be submitted online for $10.
A DPH verification only confirms that a dissolution of marriage was recorded in Georgia during that period. It does not carry a court seal and is not valid as a certified court copy. If you need the full certified decree for legal use, contact the Seminole County clerk directly regardless of the year the dissolution occurred.
Georgia Law and Support Resources
Dissolution of marriage law in Georgia is set by state statute and applies uniformly across all counties, including Seminole. The core provisions are in Georgia Title 19 Chapter 5 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. The 13 recognized grounds for dissolution of marriage are codified in O.C.G.A. Section 19-5-3. The most commonly used ground in Georgia is that the marriage is irretrievably broken, which does not require either party to prove fault.
The Georgia Courts website has self-help guides and procedural resources for residents who want to understand the dissolution process before hiring an attorney or proceeding without one. Southwest Georgia Legal Aid serves counties in this region and may be able to assist income-eligible Seminole County residents with dissolution of marriage matters. The Georgia Archives holds older court records and may be useful for historical dissolution research in Seminole County.
Cities in Seminole County
Seminole County does not have any cities that meet the 25,000-population threshold for this site. Donalsonville is the county seat and the primary community in Seminole County. All dissolution of marriage filings for residents of Seminole County are processed through the Superior Court Clerk in Donalsonville.