wife ran to OH, now won't file

[confused.in.ga]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? GA
A friend's wife panicked during their second month of marriage when she found out she was pregnant. She moved to her parents' house in Ohio shortly after the baby was born (my friend still lives in GA). She is supposedly filing for divorce in OH. The problem is, she won't return his phone calls. They had paperwork they both agreed on, but the state decided he needed to pay her more.
He suggested that she repay him a monthly amount for five years that is equal to half of their credit card debt. The cards were all in her name, but he is a co-signer, and since she is not paying on them, and won't take his name off the cards, he is paying on them. The monthly amount would have been equal to their original agreement.
It's almost like she heard the court's amount and decided that's what she deserved. Since hearing the court's decision, she has refused to answer any of his phone calls. My friend has even called her parents trying to get a hold of her.
Is there any way to encourage her to call? All my friend wants is to hear his three year-old's voice. Doe he need to keep a phone log of attempted calls?
What custodial rights does he currently have?
Sorry for the long post. Any help you can give is appreciated!

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? GA
A friend's wife panicked during their second month of marriage when she found out she was pregnant. She moved to her parents' house in Ohio shortly after the baby was born (my friend still lives in GA). She is supposedly filing for divorce in OH. The problem is, she won't return his phone calls. They had paperwork they both agreed on, but the state decided he needed to pay her more.
He suggested that she repay him a monthly amount for five years that is equal to half of their credit card debt. The cards were all in her name, but he is a co-signer, and since she is not paying on them, and won't take his name off the cards, he is paying on them. The monthly amount would have been equal to their original agreement.
It's almost like she heard the court's amount and decided that's what she deserved. Since hearing the court's decision, she has refused to answer any of his phone calls. My friend has even called her parents trying to get a hold of her.
Is there any way to encourage her to call? All my friend wants is to hear his three year-old's voice. Doe he need to keep a phone log of attempted calls?
What custodial rights does he currently have?
Sorry for the long post. Any help you can give is appreciated!

The child is THREE and she left when she was two months PREGNANT? Send him here to ask his questions. how much credit card debt did they amass as a married couple if she left after two months of marriage? What has he done since she left? How often has he seen his child? Why hasn't he filed anything in Ohio?

 

[confused.in.ga]

She had their child in GA (they split their house in half for a year- it sounds crazy to me, too).
As a GA resident, he can only file in GA. GA laws are such that this alimony/ child support payments would be expensive enough that he could not afford food and shelter. (GA does it as a % difference of both parents' incomes, and she doesn't work.) OH law is different. Since she is now a resident of OH, she can file there... the frustration has been in getting her to file.
The credit card debt was racked up during the year they lived together while she was pregnant and just after their child was born. He wrote checks that she never sent... bad news all around. I don't know how much it was. I'm guessing by his estimated time to pay it off, at least $30K.
He sees his son a few times a year when he visits OH. He uses all of his vacation and sick time to do this. His son did come for a visit (thanks to help from paternal grandma) a month or so ago. He was here about a week. During that time, wife said she was signing all paperwork. Since his son's return home, he has not heard one word from wife (or son), nor has he seen the paperwork.
Thanks again for your help!

 

[mistoffolees]

She had their child in GA (they split their house in half for a year- it sounds crazy to me, too).
As a GA resident, he can only file in GA. GA laws are such that this alimony/ child support payments would be expensive enough that he could not afford food and shelter. (GA does it as a % difference of both parents' incomes, and she doesn't work.) OH law is different. Since she is now a resident of OH, she can file there... the frustration has been in getting her to file.
The credit card debt was racked up during the year they lived together while she was pregnant and just after their child was born. He wrote checks that she never sent... bad news all around. I don't know how much it was. I'm guessing by his estimated time to pay it off, at least $30K.
He sees his son a few times a year when he visits OH. He uses all of his vacation and sick time to do this. His son did come for a visit (thanks to help from paternal grandma) a month or so ago. He was here about a week. During that time, wife said she was signing all paperwork. Since his son's return home, he has not heard one word from wife (or son), nor has he seen the paperwork.
Thanks again for your help!

He needs to cancel the credit cards immediately.

Then, he has to make a choice on the divorce. No one can wave a magic wand and make her do what she doesn't want to do. As I see it, he has to choose one of the following:
1. File for divorce in GA. If they have been out of state for less than 6 months (which doesn't sound likely), GA would have jurisdiction over custody, as well, which might be an advantage.
2. Somehow convince her to file in OH. I don't think an anonymous internet forum can tell him how to convince her.
3. Stay married

As for custodial rights, he gave a lot of them up when he let her move out of state without taking action. While he is still the parent and should ultimately get joint legal custody (unless he did something bad that you didn't mention), she's going to get sole physical custody and he's looking at visitation. But visitation is not automatic. He needs to request it from the court and get a valid court order. I'm not aware of any way to request enforced visitation without going through option #1 or #2 above. So, he needs to get a divorce filed and then request visitation and rules on phone calls.

 

[Ohiogal]

HE can file in Ohio. HE has a right to petition an OHIO court. It is very possible and no court is going to tell him he can't. Other than that he is making excuses.

 

[mistoffolees]

HE can file in Ohio. HE has a right to petition an OHIO court. It is very possible and no court is going to tell him he can't. Other than that he is making excuses.

I'll have to accept your expertise, but there is apparently something that's not obvious about that.

Ohio Divorce Source: State Divorce Laws: Ohio
says that the petitioner must have been an OH resident for 6 months to file for divorce.

Are you saying that this is wrong or that he can simply file for custody or visitation without filing for divorce in OH?