Shara Sims petitioned the Cobb County Superior Court for a family-violence protective order against her ex-husband, Russell Sims, alleging that he had stalked her and physically harmed their two children. The court held a hearing on the 26th day after the petition was filed, but the hearing began around 5 p.m. and could not be finished, so the judge continued it over Russell’s objection to a date more than 30 days after filing. The trial court then denied Russell’s motion to dismiss and entered a 12-month protective order. The Court of Appeals of Georgia held that the Family Violence Act requires a hearing to be held, not merely begun, within 30 days of the petition, and that a petition not heard within that period stands dismissed by operation of law unless the parties agree otherwise. Because the statute spells out the consequence of missing the deadline and allows only narrow exceptions, substantial compliance could not save the petition. The court noted that the alternative of holding the hearing in another county in the same circuit was unavailable because Cobb County is its own judicial circuit.