Georgia is an “Equitable Division” state. This means that, as opposed to a “Community Property” state which calls for the division of all marital property 50/50, in Georgia it is up to either a judge or jury to determine what is “fair.”

The doctrine of Equitable Division in Georgia was adopted by the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1985 in the case of Stokes v. Stokes. Since then, when dividing assets during a divorce, Georgia courts (1) determine what property is separate and what is marital, and then (2) “equitably” divide the marital property. The factors that go into determining what is considered equitable are:

• The length of the marriage
• The age of each of the parties
• The health of each of the parties
• The earnings of each of the parties
• The potential earnings of each of the parties
• What contributions each spouse made to the family during the marriage
• The debts of each of the parties
• The financial requirements of each of the parties
• Any separate property owned by either party
• The current economic circumstances of each party
• The future potential economic circumstances of each party (inheritances)
• The conduct of each party during the marriage

As can be seen, there are a very wide array of factors that a GA judge or jury may taken into account when determinig the equitable division of property. Unfortunately, as opposed to a community property state, this sometimes means that divorcing couples in Georgia will not have clear-cut guidelines for being able to determine who will be able to walk away with what after a divorce. With that being said, if you are going through a divorce in Georgia where the separation of marital assets will be an issue, we strongly encourage you to speak with one of our Atlanta divorce and family law attorneys sooner rather than later. Please feel free to browse through our site for additional information. We look forward to hearing from you.