What Is a Georgia Prenuptial Agreement?
A prenuptial agreement in Georgia is a legal contract made before marriage. It explains how you and your future spouse will divide property and debts if you divorce or if one of you passes away.
Unlike a postnuptial agreement, which is drafted after marriage, couples must enter a prenuptial agreement before the wedding takes place.
Prenups can cover:
- Property division
- Debt allocation
- Spousal support
- Pet custody
- Estate planning
The state of Georgia follows equitable distribution laws rather than community property laws. The court decides how marital property is distributed in a divorce settlement agreement. When deciding, a judge may look at each spouse’s income, if one spouse stayed home to care for children, and how long the marriage lasted.
As such, property judgments aren’t always 50/50. A prenuptial agreement gives you and your partner the ability to make these decisions together while you are both on good terms.
How to Write a Prenuptial Agreement in Georgia
Our Georgia prenuptial agreement template guides you step by step. It helps you create a legal document that follows Georgia law and can hold up in court.
- Fill in identifying information: List both spouses’ full names, addresses, and the names of any children from past relationships.
- List separate and marital property: Include what property each spouse owns before the marriage. Then, list what property you both will share. This can include cars, homes, bank accounts, retirement accounts, and life insurance.
- Protect business interests: If either spouse owns a business, state who will keep ownership.
- Disclose debts: Each spouse must list any debts they bring to the marriage. This can include student loans, car loans, mortgages, or credit card debt. You should also say who will be responsible for paying each debt.
- Decide tax status: Choose whether you will file taxes jointly or separately during the marriage.
- Assign home ownership: Decide who will own the marital home. If you plan to sell it, explain how to split the money from the sale.
- Set spousal support: State whether one spouse will receive alimony and under what terms.
- Include additional clauses: You may wish to add clauses protecting the care and upkeep of a disabled spouse or guidance on providing financially for children from a previous relationship.
- Confirm financial disclosure: Both parties must attest to having provided a full and accurate disclosure of assets and debts.
- Determine dispute resolution: Decide how you will resolve disputes should they arise.
- Sign and notarize: Georgia requires both spouses to sign the prenuptial agreement and two individuals to witness the signatures.
Sample Georgia Prenuptial Agreement
Below, you can view a sample Georgia prenuptial agreement. Using our document editor, you can customize this template to meet your requirements and then download in PDF or Word format.
Legal Requirements in Georgia
Georgia does not follow the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act (UPAA). Instead, the state uses long-standing court decisions to enforce prenuptial agreements. Future spouses can transfer property to each other through the prenup or through a trustee, as per GA Code 19-3-64.
Signing
Parties have to sign the document without coercion or under duress. One of the two witnesses to your signatures must provide notary acknowledgement in their role as a notary public to validate the contract as per GA Code 19-3-63.
Enforceability
The courts will uphold a prenup as long as it’s in writing and has been signed and witnessed according to GA Code 19-3-63 and has been signed free of duress with full disclosure.
Financial Disclosure
The courts can invalidate a prenup if it’s later discovered that one or both spouses didn’t provide a complete disclosure of assets and debts.
Excluded Terms
Prenuptial agreements in Georgia cannot govern issues of child support or custody, which are matters handled by family courts.
Attorney Representation
Georgia doesn’t require you to hire an attorney when drafting a prenup. However, it’s strongly recommended that each party seek independent counsel to represent their interests. An agreement is more likely to be upheld if both spouses had counsel when it was executed.
Spousal Support Waivers
GA Code 19-6-1 addresses the awarding of alimony. However, a prenuptial agreement allows you and your partner to set the terms of spousal support or completely waive it as long as both parties agree and the terms are fair and equitable.
