ga-cobb

Cobb County courts (Marietta, Georgia)

NOT LEGAL ADVICE. These notes describe the venue's procedural mechanics as a drafting aid, not legal advice. Local rules, standing orders, judge counts, and addresses change; verify with the clerk and the current court pages before relying on anything here.

Use this skill in addition to ga-statewide-format when the matter is in a Cobb County court. Cobb County is a single-county circuit — the Cobb Judicial Circuit covers only Cobb County. Marietta is the county seat, and all four trial courts sit there.

The single most important Cobb-specific facts to get right are: (1) choosing the correct Cobb court for the subject matter, and (2) remembering that Cobb e-files through PeachCourt, not Odyssey eFileGA, and that in domestic cases the domestic standing order is already in force the moment the case is filed.

The four Cobb trial courts

Superior Court of Cobb County

• 70 Haynes Street, Marietta, GA 30090; 11 Superior Court judges (verify the current bench against the court page — judge counts change with each legislative add-on and election).
• General-jurisdiction court with exclusive jurisdiction over divorce, equity, title to land, and felonies (Ga. Const. art. VI, § IV; O.C.G.A. § 15-6-8). Powers are catalogued at O.C.G.A. § 15-6-8; the circuit/judgeship statute is O.C.G.A. § 15-6-1.
• Domestic-relations cases are assigned randomly among the judges — there is no named family division in Cobb. Whatever judge draws the case sets the schedule, so identify the assigned judge early and check that judge's individual practices.

State Court of Cobb County

• 12 East Park Square, Marietta, GA 30090; 12 State Court judges (verify against the current court page).
• Limited-jurisdiction court under O.C.G.A. § 15-7-4. Its Civil Division hears civil actions of ANY amount — there is no dollar ceiling — plus misdemeanors and traffic. It cannot hear equity, divorce, title, or felonies (those are Superior-exclusive).
• Because the Superior/State split in Georgia is by subject matter, not dollar amount, the State Court is the principal forum for Cobb debt-collection and tort suits. A money judgment with no equitable component normally belongs here, however large.

Cobb County Magistrate Court

• 32 Waddell Street, Marietta, GA 30090.
• Small claims up to $15,000 (O.C.G.A. § 15-10-2(5)).
• Dispossessory (eviction) — the $15,000 cap does not apply to a dispossessory money judgment.
• Continuing garnishment — a garnishment runs for 1,095 days once issued.
• A writ of fieri facias (FiFa) issues on default (or after 10 days if the case is contested) and is recorded on the Superior Court General Execution Docket (GED) to become a lien.
• Procedure is informal — the Civil Practice Act and the evidence rules are relaxed (O.C.G.A. §§ 15-10-40 to 15-10-53), parties may appear pro se, and a corporation may appear through an officer or employee.
• A losing party gets a de novo appeal to the State or Superior Court (O.C.G.A. § 15-10-41(b)).

Probate and Juvenile

• Probate Court — wills, estates, guardianship/conservatorship, involuntary commitment, and the issuance of marriage licenses and weapons-carry licenses.
• Juvenile Court — delinquency, children-in-need-of-services, dependency, and termination of parental rights (under 18).

Caption — Cobb variants

For a Superior Court matter:

              SUPERIOR COURT OF COBB COUNTY
                    STATE OF GEORGIA

[PLAINTIFF / PETITIONER NAME],          )
                                        )
        Plaintiff,                      )   Civil Action
                                        )   File No. ____________
   v.                                   )
                                        )
[DEFENDANT / RESPONDENT NAME],          )
                                        )
        Defendant.                      )

                  [TITLE OF DOCUMENT]

For a State Court matter, the heading reads "STATE COURT OF COBB COUNTY / STATE OF GEORGIA"; everything else is the same.

• The file-number line is "Civil Action File No. ____" — left blank for the clerk / PeachCourt to assign at filing; do not invent a number.
• Party designations: Plaintiff / Defendant in ordinary civil cases; Petitioner / Respondent in divorce and other domestic matters.
• For the page setup (US Letter, 1" margins, 12-pt serif, double-spacing, line numbering, footer), follow ga-statewide-format and O.C.G.A. § 9-11-10.

E-filing — PeachCourt (NOT Odyssey eFileGA)

Cobb County files through PeachCourt, not the Odyssey eFileGA platform used in many other Georgia counties. Do not assume eFileGA — confirm PeachCourt before preparing an upload.

• Superior Court civil e-filing has been mandatory since October 1, 2018.
• State Court e-filing is also mandatory.
• Pro se litigants may e-file through PeachCourt.

PeachCourt auto-generates several documents at filing rather than requiring the filer to supply them:

• the Case Initiation Form,
• the Disclosure Statement,
• the Summons, and
• the Sheriff's Entry of Service.

Critically, in a domestic case PeachCourt auto-attaches the domestic standing order at the moment of filing — see the next section.

The two Cobb domestic standing orders (a notable trap)

Cobb attaches two standing orders in domestic-relations cases. Both bind the parties as soon as the case is filed — there is no separate hearing or service step that triggers them, and a filer unfamiliar with Cobb can violate them without realizing they exist.

1. Domestic Relations Standing Order & Rule Nisi

Automatically restrains both parties, from filing, from:

• removing a child from Georgia for more than one week — note this is NARROW: it is a one-week out-of-state-removal restraint, not a flat anti-relocation clause;
• harassing the other party;
• disposing of assets, except in the ordinary course of business or for an emergency / necessities;
• changing insurance coverage;
• disconnecting utilities; and
• interfering with the other party's mail.

It also requires, as part of the domestic case:

• a Domestic Relations Financial Affidavit (DRFA) under USCR 24.2, plus a Child Support Worksheet, filed at least 15 days before the hearing and updated at least 10 days before the hearing; and
• attendance at the divorcing-parents seminar (see the second order).

Violating the standing order is punishable as contempt.

2. Co-Parenting Seminar Standing Order (USCR 24.8)

• The parties must complete the co-parenting / divorcing-parents seminar within 30 days of the final judgment.
• There is a $50 fee, which is waivable.

There is no business court in Cobb — Cobb operates accountability courts (e.g., drug/mental-health courts) but does not participate in a business-case division.

Cobb traps for non-Cobb filers

1. The domestic standing order is already in force at filing. It binds both parties immediately — conduct that is fine pre-filing (selling property, changing insurance, taking a child out of state for a trip) can become contempt the instant the case is filed.
2. There are TWO standing orders, not one — the Domestic Relations Standing Order & Rule Nisi and the Co-Parenting Seminar Standing Order.
3. The financial-affidavit deadlines are tight — DRFA + Child Support Worksheet at least 15 days before the hearing, updated at least 10 days before.
4. The child-removal clause is NARROW — it restrains taking a child out of Georgia for more than a week; it is not a blanket bar on relocation, and should not be paraphrased as one.
5. Cobb uses PeachCourt, not Odyssey eFileGA. Preparing a filing for the wrong platform wastes time; PeachCourt also auto-generates the case-initiation paperwork and auto-attaches the standing order.

Composition

• ga-statewide-format — page setup, caption baseline, line numbering
• ga-state-court — civil-any-amount practice (the principal Cobb forum for debt/tort)
• ga-magistrate — small claims, dispossessory, garnishment mechanics
• ga-family-court — divorce/domestic drafting and the DRFA
• ga-consumer-debt — debt-collection subject-matter content
• ga-first-30-days — answer, defenses, counterclaims
• ga-file-packet — assembling and preflighting a Cobb filing
• ga-schedule-hearing — Rule Nisi and hearing-setting mechanics
• ga-deadlines — time computation and the 15-day/10-day DRFA windows

References

• references/cobb-superior-local-practice.md — Superior Court bench, random domestic assignment, local practices, addresses to verify
• references/cobb-standing-orders.md — full text/summary of the two domestic standing orders and the DRFA / Child Support Worksheet deadlines
• references/cobb-efiling-peachcourt.md — PeachCourt workflows, auto-generated documents, pro se e-filing
• references/cobb-magistrate-small-claims.md — small-claims cap, dispossessory, continuing garnishment, FiFa / GED recording