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2018 Georgia Code 19-3-62 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 19-3-62 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 19-3-62

TITLE 19 DOMESTIC RELATIONS

Section 3. Marriage Generally, 19-3-1 through 19-3-68.

ARTICLE 3 ANTENUPTIAL AGREEMENTS, MARRIAGE CONTRACTS, AND POSTNUPTIAL SETTLEMENTS

19-3-62. Requirements and construction of antenuptial agreements.

An antenuptial agreement shall be in writing, signed by both parties who agree to be bound, and attested by at least two witnesses, one of whom shall be a notary public. Antenuptial agreements shall be liberally construed to carry into effect the intention of the parties, and no want of form or technical expression shall invalidate such agreements.

(Orig. Code 1863, § 1724; Code 1868, § 1765; Code 1873, § 1775; Code 1882, § 1775; Civil Code 1895, § 2480; Civil Code 1910, § 2999; Code 1933, § 53-401; Ga. L. 2018, p. 155, § 1-1/HB 190.)

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, substituted the present provisions of this Code section for the former provisions, which read: "(a) As used in this article, the term 'marriage articles' means any antenuptial agreement between the parties to a marriage contemplating a future settlement upon one spouse. Marriage articles, whether by parol or in writing, may be executed and enforced by a court of equity at the instance of the spouse at any time during the life of the other spouse, so long as the rights of third persons, purchasers, or creditors, in good faith and without notice, are not affected thereby.

"(b) An agreement perfect in itself which needs no future conveyance to effect its purposes is an executed contract and does not come under the definition of marriage articles."

Cross references.

- Effect of marriage on debt created prior to ceremony, § 13-4-82.

Law reviews.

- For article, "Parentage Prenups and Midnups," see 31 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 343 (2015).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Equity has jurisdiction to set aside marriage settlements. Gefken v. Graef, 77 Ga. 340 (1886).

Husband cannot alter antenuptial agreement by postnuptial deed. Maxwell v. Hoppie, 70 Ga. 152 (1883).

Final and complete settlement.

- Prenuptial agreement between decedent husband and wife, wherein the wife agreed not to assert any claim on the husband's estate, constituted a final and complete settlement which the mother and sister of the decedent had standing to enforce. Sieg v. Sieg, 265 Ga. 384, 455 S.E.2d 830 (1995).

Requirement of attestation by two witnesses.

- In a divorce case in which a wife appealed the trial court's denial of the wife's motion for partial summary judgment on her claim that the antenuptial agreement was unenforceable, the antenuptial agreement was a marriage contract pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 19-3-62(b), and the agreement was unenforceable since the agreement had only been signed by one witness, and O.C.G.A. § 19-3-63 required that every marriage contract in writing, made in contemplation of marriage, must be attested by at least two witnesses. Sullivan v. Sullivan, 286 Ga. 53, 684 S.E.2d 861 (2009).

Trial court did not abuse discretion in setting aside agreement.

- Because the evidence supported a finding that one spouse failed to make a full and fair disclosure of assets, income, and liabilities to the other spouse prior to the execution of an antenuptial agreement, hiding specific facts of the spouse's true financial status, the trial court did not abuse the court's discretion in setting the agreement aside. Blige v. Blige, 283 Ga. 65, 656 S.E.2d 822 (2008).

Cited in Acree v. Acree, 201 Ga. 359, 40 S.E.2d 54 (1946); Reynolds v. Reynolds, 217 Ga. 234, 123 S.E.2d 115 (1961); Wilcox v. Wilcox, 225 Ga. 472, 169 S.E.2d 819 (1969).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 41 Am. Jur. 2d, Husband and Wife, §§ 81 et seq., 107, 108, 113, 123.

C.J.S.

- 41 C.J.S., Husband and Wife, §§ 58, 59, 93, 94, 111 et seq., 118, 119, 127, 136, 138, 140 et seq.

ALR.

- Applicability of succession tax law to antenuptial contract, 44 A.L.R. 1475.

Validity of postnuptial agreement releasing or waiving rights of surviving spouse on death of other spouse, 49 A.L.R. 116.

Agreement not in contemplation of divorce for release of wife's right to support as contrary to public policy, 50 A.L.R. 351; 120 A.L.R. 1334.

Rule regarding revocation of will by marriage as affected by antenuptial agreement or settlement, 92 A.L.R. 1010.

Spouse's right to take under other spouse's will as affected by antenuptial or postnuptial agreement or property settlement, 53 A.L.R.2d 475.

Declaratory judgment, during lifetime of spouses, as to construction of antenuptial agreement dealing with property rights of survivor, 80 A.L.R.2d 941.

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 19-3-62

Total Results: 4  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

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Warren v. State, 336 S.E.2d 221 (Ga. 1985).

Cited 21 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Nov 6, 1985 | 255 Ga. 151

...parties have a joint and several duty to provide for the maintenance, protection, and education of their children, OCGA § 19-7-2. Couples may write antenuptial agreements in which they are able to decide, prior to marriage, future settlements, OCGA § 19-3-62; and our legislature has recognized that there can be violence in modern family life and it has enacted special laws to protect family members who live in the same household from one another's violent acts, Ga....
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Dove v. Dove, 680 S.E.2d 839 (Ga. 2009).

Cited 19 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jun 15, 2009 | 285 Ga. 647, 2009 Fulton County D. Rep. 2276

...To the contrary, we have held that a prenuptial agreement which waives each spouse's rights in the other's property either before or after death and which does not contemplate a conveyance of property is an enforceable marriage contract pursuant to OCGA § 19-3-62(b)....
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Sieg v. Sieg, 455 S.E.2d 830 (Ga. 1995).

Cited 12 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Apr 10, 1995 | 265 Ga. 384

...ts face that they had no standing to maintain their action. Relying on Merritt v. Scott, 6 Ga. 563 (1849), defendant contends the prenuptial agreement (which plaintiffs attached to their complaint) constituted only "marriage articles," see *832 OCGA § 19-3-62(a), to which plaintiffs were not parties and thus because plaintiffs are merely collateral relatives, see OCGA § 53-4-2(1), they are not entitled to relief based on the agreement. OCGA § 19-3-66. We disagree. OCGA § 19-3-62 provides in pertinent part: (a) ......
...ing any future act. This conclusion is reinforced by the fact that if the document were construed to constitute marriage articles, defendant's agreement not to assert any claim on the decedent's estate would be rendered meaningless, since under OCGA § 19-3-62(a) marriage articles are enforceable only "during the life of the other spouse." See Wilcox v....
...Scott, 50 U.S. 196, 212 (9 How. 196), 13 L.Ed. 102 (1850), we find that the prenuptial *833 agreement in this case constituted an "actual legal settlement [under which] the rights of the parties vested," id., [2] and thus comes under the ambit of OCGA § 19-3-62(b) rather than OCGA § 19-3-62(a)....
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Sullivan v. Sullivan, 684 S.E.2d 861 (Ga. 2009).

Cited 1 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Sep 28, 2009 | 286 Ga. 53, 2009 Fulton County D. Rep. 3045

...n Husband's property. We have already held that a prenuptial agreement which, in substantially the same language present here, waives each spouse's rights in the other's property either before or after death is a "marriage contract" pursuant to OCGA § 19-3-62(b)....