Once you have a domicile, Georgia law presumes you still have it until someone proves you changed it.
The Presumption of Continuity
The Court of Appeals stated the rule in Kean v. Marshall, 294 Ga. App. 459 (2008): “under doctrine of presumption of continuity, a status proved to exist will be presumed to have continued to exist; until evidence is introduced to the contrary, it is presumed a person has not changed his residence or domicile.”
It works alongside an older rule. In Williams v. Williams, 191 Ga. 437 (1940), the Georgia Supreme Court held that “a domicile once established continues until a new domicile is acquired,” and that “a new domicile can not be acquired simply by a change of residence, but it must be with the intention of abandoning the old residence and of remaining permanently or for an indefinite time in the new.”
Who Has to Come Forward With Proof
The presumption decides cases. In Kean, a soldier had been born, raised, and enlisted in Alabama. He voted there, paid income taxes there, held an Alabama driver’s license, registered his vehicles there, and cared for his elderly father there. Assigned to Fort Gillem, he took a six month lease on a Stockbridge apartment for the nights he worked late.
The trial court concluded he intended to remain in Georgia indefinitely. The Court of Appeals reversed. “The proper focus is whether the record contained evidence that Kean took any action to change his domicile from Alabama to Georgia, and the record is devoid of evidence showing any such action.”
Why This Matters to You
If you moved away from Georgia but never settled anywhere else, your Georgia domicile may still be intact. And if your spouse claims to have left Georgia, the work of showing that falls on the person asserting the change.
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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!