Common Debts of the Spouses and the Rule of Their Division
Divorce and the division of property often raise the question of how the debts accumulated during the marriage are shared. The Civil Code of Georgia resolves this issue clearly: common debts of the spouses are divided between them proportionally to the share each holds in the common property. The division of the debt is thus directly linked to the shares the spouses have in the joint estate — the larger a spouse’s share in the property, the larger the part of the common debt that spouse bears. For this reason, correctly establishing the composition of the common property and the shares is the foundation of any debt-division case.
In practical terms, the matter always begins with an audit: it must be established when each obligation arose, who was its party and what became of what was received under it. This information determines whether the debt is common at all and who bears responsibility for it. The documentary trail — contracts, payments, account records — is precisely the support without which the court can establish neither the character of the debt nor the direction of its use.