Atlanta Divorce, Equitable Distribution – Georgia Case Update
On May 4, 2009, the Supreme Court affirmed the ruling in the Atlanta Divorce case of Patel v. Patel (S09F0505), In this case, This case involved a long marriage of 22 years. The Husband was a doctor who operated his Atlanta medical practice out of a condominium purchased during the marriage and the Wife did not work. The Fulton County divorce judge awarded the Husband the office condominium housing his medical practice as part of equitable division. The Wife believed that this was an error and appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia, but the Supreme Court upheld the Fulton County divorce judge’s ruling.
In an Atlanta divorce case, the fact finder (the trial judge in this case), has broad discretion to distribute marital property to assure that property accumulated during the marriage is fairly divided between the parties. Given the overall distribution of assets between the parties and the trial court’s findings of fact specific to the office condominium, the Supreme Court could not find any evidence that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding the office condominium to Husband.
