ga-gwinnett

Gwinnett County Trial Courts (Gwinnett 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 Gwinnett County trial court. The Gwinnett Judicial Circuit is a single-county circuit (Gwinnett County only), seated at 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville, Georgia (verify the current address). Pick the right court first — Georgia splits trial jurisdiction by subject matter, not by dollar amount.

Which Gwinnett court

• Superior Court of Gwinnett County — general-jurisdiction trial court for the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit; reported at roughly 11 judges sitting in Divisions 1 through 11 (verify judge count against the current bench). Exclusive over divorce, equity, title to land, and felonies (O.C.G.A. §§ 15-6-1, 15-6-8). Court terms convene the first Monday in March, June, and December and the second Monday in September (O.C.G.A. § 15-6-3).
• State Court of Gwinnett County — reported at roughly 7 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 Gwinnett County — one of Georgia's busiest magistrate courts, reported at roughly 21 judges (verify against the current bench). Civil cap of $15,000 (O.C.G.A. § 15-10-2), with no cap on dispossessory money judgments. Note the enhanced post-judgment discovery posture under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-69 where a dispossessory or distress judgment exceeds $5,000.
• Business docket — Gwinnett opted into the Metro Atlanta Business Case Division (MABCD), the first county outside Fulton to do so and the only county to enroll both its State and Superior courts in the division. MABCD has no fixed dollar threshold and takes cases by transfer; it is distinct from the statewide Georgia State-wide Business Court (O.C.G.A. § 15-5A).

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 GWINNETT 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 GWINNETT 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 — Odyssey eFileGA (NOT PeachCourt)

Gwinnett civil filings run through Odyssey eFileGA (the Tyler Odyssey portal) — not PeachCourt. Flag this clearly: a filer who defaults to the PeachCourt portal will be at the wrong gateway for Gwinnett. E-filing is mandatory for all State and Superior civil cases and optional in the Magistrate Court. Confirm the current portal entry point and document codes with the Clerk of Superior Court before filing.

Mandatory ADR + Superior Court Transfer Rules

• Mandatory ADR program — Gwinnett operates a court-annexed alternative-dispute-resolution program; civil cases are routinely ordered to ADR. Check the current ADR order and timing for the case.
• Superior Court Transfer Rules — Gwinnett publishes transfer rules governing movement of cases between the State and Superior Courts (e.g., when a State Court case implicates a superior-exclusive subject). Consult these before assuming the filing court can keep a matter.
• Standing orders by document number — Gwinnett publishes its standing orders by document number; cite the operative document number in filings that reference them.

Domestic standing order + child-support computation

When a domestic case is filed, a domestic standing order auto-attaches and binds both parties on filing/service, and Gwinnett separately issues a Child Support Computation Procedures order governing the worksheet and supporting documentation. Read the operative orders in the case and route domestic mechanics through ga-family-court. Judge counts, division assignments, and the courthouse address 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 Gwinnett 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/gwinnett-courts-jurisdiction.md — court-by-court jurisdiction split, terms of court, and where to file
• references/gwinnett-efiling.md — Odyssey eFileGA workflows and document codes (NOT PeachCourt)
• references/gwinnett-transfer-and-adr.md — Superior Court Transfer Rules and the mandatory ADR program
• references/gwinnett-standing-orders.md — standing orders by document number, the domestic standing order, and the Child Support Computation Procedures order