Cohabitation agreements in Georgia: rights you have to write yourself Cohabitation agreements in Georgia: rights you have to write yourself

The house follows the deed — the partner who paid half of everything without title holds equitable theories and a court date, not ownership. Accounts follow their names. No support survives separation, whatever was promised across two decades of shared life. At death, Georgia intestacy routes the entire estate to blood relatives; the surviving partner inherits nothing, claims nothing, and controls nothing — including, potentially, the funeral. Georgia recognizes contract claims between former cohabitants, but the consideration must be independent of the relationship itself — Georgia courts have historically refused to enforce agreements they read as founded on the intimate relationship. The drafting answer: build the agreement expressly on financial consideration — property contributions, services with market value, mutual financial undertakings — and paper it like the business contract it legally is.

The exception, as always: children. Parentage, custody, and support run independent of marriage — noting Georgia's wrinkle that an unmarried father needs legitimation to hold full parental rights: see adoption in Georgia for that doctrine.

• The home — shares, contribution treatment (gift, loan, or equity — in writing, now), buyout and sale mechanics, survivor occupancy terms.
• Money and debts — joint versus separate, expense-sharing, unwinding rules with deadlines.
• Contribution imbalances — career sacrifices and labor poured into a partner's business get exactly what the contract says. Georgia law adds nothing.
• Financial consideration, stated expressly — Georgia's enforcement caution makes the recital sections genuinely load-bearing. This is where DIY agreements die.
• Coordination with estate documents — wills, powers of attorney, health care directives, beneficiary designations. Georgia's defaults make an unmarried partner legally invisible; the documents are the entire safety net. See estate planning.

Brown Carrington drafts Georgia cohabitation agreements around Georgia's enforcement doctrine — consideration recited, terms precise, estate documents aligned.