Yes. Alimony in Georgia need not be cash. A court can award title to real estate, a life estate, or the right to live in the home as alimony, and can make the other spouse keep paying for it.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-6-5(a) allows permanent alimony “either from the corpus of the estate or otherwise,” which includes “granting to the wife the title or use of property in the possession of the husband.” Jones v. Jones, 220 Ga. 753 (1965). Even separate property qualifies. In Smelser v. Smelser, 280 Ga. 92 (2005), the home was the husband’s separate property and could not be equitably divided, yet the Georgia Supreme Court upheld an award to the wife of a one-half undivided interest in it as alimony, with the mortgage, taxes and insurance paid by the husband as further alimony.
Title, a Life Estate, or Possession
The award can be outright. In Elrod v. Elrod, 231 Ga. 222 (1973), a jury gave the wife the marital home as alimony but barred her from selling it until the youngest child turned eighteen. The restriction was void: “[t]he decree placed title to the property in the wife just as a deed from the husband would have.” In Lucas v. Lucas, 229 Ga. 283 (1972), the house stayed with the husband for life and passed to the wife at his death. His argument that alimony ends at death failed: the award was “a specified interest in realty, not periodic payments.”
One Limit
A court may not make one spouse buy the other’s share at a price to be set later. In Brady v. Brady, 228 Ga. 617 (1972), a decree gave each spouse half the property and then required the husband to pay the wife half of a future appraisal; that part fell, because a court cannot “require either party to purchase the interest of the other at an undetermined price.”
Contact Us
This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!