Our Family Law Practice Areas
Scott Phillips and Angela Sellers are licensed to practice law in the states of Georgia and Alabama. Their areas of combined practice include divorce, child custody, paternity and legitimation issues, child support, adoptions and in Muscogee, Harris, Chattahoochee, Marion, Talbot, and Taylor counties in Georgia, as well as Russell and Lee counties in Alabama.
Scott is also a certified mediator, assisting parties and their attorneys settle their family law cases and avoid lengthy litigation. He is certified to handle family law mediations including cases involving domestic violence. Angela is a certified Guardian ad Litem who performs custody evaluations in cases throughout the Chattahoochee Judicial District. As a Guardian ad Litem, Angela interviews the parties, the children, and third-party witnesses to determine what custody and visitation arrangements are best for the minor children who are the subject of the litigation
Our Team
Our entire staff is empathetic, highly experienced, and dedicated to helping clients with their legal matters.
Vickie Tolbert, Legal Assistant
Scott Phillips, Partner
Scott Phillips is from Auburn, Alabama, and graduated from Auburn High School in 1987. Scott studied newspaper journalism at the University of Georgia where he graduated with honors in 1991. He remained in Athens, Georgia, to pursue his legal education and graduated from the University of Georgia’s School of Law in 1994.
In 1995, Scott accepted a position as an associate attorney with the law firm of Goodwin, Moore, Colbert & Broadaway, located in northeast Arkansas where his practice emphasized criminal defense and divorce work. In 1997, he joined the legal community in Columbus, Georgia. Scott practices in both Georgia and Alabama exclusively in the area of family law. He received a 2009 Reader’s Choice Award from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer for Favorite Attorney in the Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia area.
In February 2019, Scott became certified to serve as a mediator in the field of family law. He subsequently completed the specialized training required to mediate family law cases involving domestic violence.
Angela Sellers, Partner
Angela Sellers is a native of Columbus, Georgia and graduated from Shaw High School in 1988. She was an honors graduate of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, where she received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 1992. Angela continued her education at Mercer University and graduated from the Walter F. George School of Law in 1997.
Angela became a member of the Georgia State Bar in 1997 and a member of the Alabama State Bar in 2000. She returned to her hometown of Columbus, Georgia to practice law in 1999. She is a founding member of the law firm of Phillips & Sellers, P.C. where she practices exclusively in the area of family law, including divorce, child custody, adoption, legitimation, and child support.
In 2010, Angela became qualified as a Guardian ad Litem in the state of Georgia. In addition to her regular practice in family law, she has been actively engaged in making recommendations for the best interests of children in custody litigation for the last thirteen years.
Our Practice Areas
Here are several of our primary areas of legal experience and expertise.
Family Law FAQ
An adoption is filed in the county of residence of the person(s) who is adopting the child. You must have lived in that county for at least six (6) months prior to the filing of the adoption.
In Georgia, you must be 25 years of age or over or married and living with your spouse. You must be at least 10 years older than the child. If you are married, you must file jointly to adopt. There is no length of marriage requirement in Georgia. In Alabama, you must be 19 years of age or older. If you are married, you must file jointly. If you are the step-parent attempting to adopt your spouse’s child, you must be married for over one year before filing an adoption.
A licensed agent interviews and investigates the adoption petitioner to determine if the petitioner is physically, financially and emotionally capable of adopting a child. The agent looks at your home, your finances, and your criminal background and makes a report to the Judge to determine if the adoption is in the best interest of the child. The cost in Georgia for the home study is approximately $250.00. The cost in Alabama is more expensive but varies.
In Georgia, a home-study evaluation is required in all adoption cases except step-parent adoptions. In step-parent adoptions, the person petitioning for adoption will have to submit to a criminal background check in lieu of a complete home-study evaluation.
The fees vary depending on the complexity of the adoption. If both birth parents consent to the adoption, the adoption is considered uncontested and less expensive.
Choose Phillips & Sellers P.C.:Your Trusted Family Law Advocates in Columbus, GA
Selecting the right legal representation in family matters is crucial. At Phillips & Sellers P.C., we prioritize your family’s well-being, offering personalized, compassionate, and skilled advocacy. Our founders, Scott Phillips and Angela Sellers, are not just passionate about family law; they embody dedication in every case, treating clients with the care and respect deserving of family. We treat you like a person and not like you’re just another file.
Resources & Documentation
In certain circumstances, we lawyers will need clients to provide us with documentation at the time we commence our representation or later during the natural flow of the case. This documentation may include marriage licenses, birth certificates, proof of income, certified documents from previous litigation and other kinds of public records. Below is a list of websites where such information can be obtained as well as links to required parenting seminars, child support calculators and other information that prospective or current clients may find helpful.
- Pastoral Institute – Seminar for Divorcing Parents (Georgia)
- Transparenting Seminar (Alabama)
- Alabama Child Support Calculators
- Georgia Child Support Calculators
- Alabama Birth Certificates, Marriage Licenses and Divorce Certificates
- Georgia Birth Certificates, Marriage Licenses and Divorce Certificates
- Military Pay Tables
- Muscogee County Deed Records and Court Dockets