ga-fulton

Fulton County Trial Courts (Atlanta Judicial Circuit)

NOT LEGAL ADVICE. These notes describe the venue's procedural mechanics as a drafting aid, not legal advice. Local rules and judge-specific practices change; verify with the clerk and the current local rules before relying on anything here.

Use this skill in addition to ga-statewide-format whenever the case is in a Fulton County trial court. The Atlanta Judicial Circuit is a single-county circuit (Fulton County only). Pick the right court first — Georgia splits trial jurisdiction by subject matter, not by dollar amount.

Which Fulton court

• Superior Court of Fulton County — general-jurisdiction trial court for the Atlanta Judicial Circuit; the largest superior bench in Georgia (reported at roughly 20 judges — verify judge count against the current bench). Organized into General Civil, Family, Criminal, and Business Case divisions. Exclusive over divorce, equity, title to land, and felonies (O.C.G.A. §§ 15-6-1, 15-6-8; Ga. Const. art. VI). Hears all civil matters not committed exclusively elsewhere.
• State Court of Fulton County — created by Ga. L. 1976 p. 3023, consolidating the now-defunct Civil Court and Criminal Court of Fulton County (the old Civil Court of Fulton County is historical; cite only for legacy matters). Reported at roughly 10 judges (verify against the current bench). Civil jurisdiction of any amount with no dollar ceiling (O.C.G.A. § 15-7-4), except the superior-exclusive subjects. Most debt-collection and tort suits are filed here.
• Magistrate Court of Fulton County — civil cap of $15,000 (O.C.G.A. § 15-10-2), plus dispossessory and garnishment matters (the cap does not limit dispossessory money judgments). Fulton Magistrate is mandatory e-file with no paper accepted, including for dispossessory and garnishment filings.
• Metro Atlanta Business Case Division (MABCD) — a local business docket; the Fulton State Court joined effective January 2020. No fixed dollar threshold; cases come in by transfer through a selection committee. This is distinct from the statewide Georgia State-wide Business Court (O.C.G.A. § 15-5A), whose thresholds are generally ≥ $1,000,000 in real-property disputes or ≥ $500,000 otherwise. Do not conflate the two.

Caption

Name the specific court and "STATE OF GEORGIA" in the caption, with the county in the court line (O.C.G.A. § 9-11-10(a)).

SUPERIOR COURT OF FULTON COUNTY
STATE OF GEORGIA

[PLAINTIFF NAME],
                              Plaintiff,
v.                                          Civil Action File No. __________

[DEFENDANT NAME],
                              Defendant.

                         [TITLE OF PLEADING]

For the State Court, substitute the court line with "STATE COURT OF FULTON COUNTY / STATE OF GEORGIA". The Georgia case-number designation is "Civil Action File No. ____"; the number is assigned by the clerk at filing — do not invent or guess it. Party designations are Plaintiff/Defendant in civil actions and Petitioner/Respondent in divorce and family matters.

E-filing — eFileGA / PeachCourt

Fulton civil filings run through eFileGA / PeachCourt, the electronic-filing portal built on the Tyler Odyssey backbone. E-filing is mandatory for Superior, State, and Magistrate civil cases under SB 407 (statewide civil e-file mandate, effective on or about January 1, 2019). Confirm the current portal entry point and document codes with the Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts before filing.

Family Division — Automatic Domestic Standing Order

The Superior Court operates a dedicated Family Division. When a domestic case is filed, an Automatic Domestic Standing Order attaches and binds both parties on filing/service (typically restraining dissipation of assets, changes to insurance, harassment, and removal of children, among other terms). Read the operative standing order in the case and route domestic mechanics through ga-family-court.

TRAP — per-judge Civil Standing Case Management Orders

Fulton Superior judges issue individual Civil Standing Case Management Orders that govern motion practice, conferral, courtesy copies, and scheduling for cases on that judge's calendar. These control alongside — and sometimes tighten — the Uniform Superior Court Rules. Always read the assigned judge's standing order, not just the USCR, before drafting motions or setting anything. Judge counts, division assignments, and addresses change; treat any specific count or address here as verify-against-current.

Composition

• ga-statewide-format — format baseline (O.C.G.A. § 9-11-10 + USCR)
• ga-state-court — State Court of Fulton County practice
• ga-magistrate — Magistrate Court $15,000 / dispossessory mechanics
• ga-family-court — divorce, equity, and the domestic standing order
• ga-consumer-debt — debt-collection subject-matter bundle
• ga-first-30-days — answer, defenses, counterclaims
• ga-file-packet — assemble and preflight the filing packet
• ga-schedule-hearing — setting hearings and rule nisi
• ga-deadlines — time computation and Georgia holidays

References

• references/fulton-courts-jurisdiction.md — court-by-court jurisdiction split and where to file
• references/fulton-efiling.md — eFileGA / PeachCourt workflows and document codes
• references/fulton-standing-orders.md — per-judge Civil Standing Case Management Orders and the Family Division Automatic Domestic Standing Order
• references/mabcd-business-case-division.md — Metro Atlanta Business Case Division intake and transfer