Same-Sex Divorce Lawyers in Atlanta

How Same-Sex Divorce Differs Under Georgia Law

Although Obergefell v. Hodges established the federal constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry and have those marriages recognized in every state, the 2015 ruling didn’t resolve every legal question that arises when those marriages end. Same-sex couples frequently face complexities that are uncommon in most divorces.

Three areas where those complexities surface most often:

• Prior legal relationships. Some couples formalized their relationships through domestic partnerships or civil unions in other states before marriage equality was recognized. Georgia has no clear statutory framework for how those prior arrangements affect property rights or spousal support in a subsequent divorce, which can leave significant issues unresolved without careful legal analysis.
• Property division and pre-marriage cohabitation. Under Georgia’s equitable distribution standard, only marital property is subject to division. Assets acquired before the legal marriage date may be classified as separate property, even when both partners contributed to them during years of shared life before marriage was a legal option. Untangling that history requires careful documentation and legal argument.
• Parental rights for non-biological or non-adoptive parents. Georgia courts apply a best-interests-of-the-child standard in all custody determinations. A non-biological parent who hasn’t formally adopted the child may face significant legal barriers to establishing custodial or visitation rights, even after years of active parenting. The outcome in these situations depends heavily on the facts and legal strategy brought to the case.

Legal grounds for divorce in Georgia, including no-fault grounds such as irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, apply equally to same-sex couples. The procedural path through Fulton County Superior Court and surrounding county courts is the same. The legal analysis, however, often isn’t.