Gainesville Georgia Legal Blog

The Governors Highway Safety Association has analyzed data collected by state highway safety offices in the first half of 2018. Based on this information, it estimates that 6,227 pedestrians were killed last year. If the estimate is accurate, 2018 marked an increase of 250 deaths from 2017 and was the most deadly year for pedestrians since 1990. Georgia residents may be interested to know what else the GHSA report says.

Pedestrians made up 16 percent of all road fatalities in 2018, compared to 12 percent in 2009. SUV-related pedestrian fatalities have increased 50 percent from 2013 to 2018, compared to a 30 percent increase in passenger car-related pedestrian deaths during that same period. SUVs account for 60 percent of all new vehicle sales. At the same time, the higher front-end profiles make SUVs more deadly when they collide with pedestrians.

In the modern world, more and more assets are becoming digitized. From photo albums and record collections to stocks and cryptocurrencies, estate plans need to account for the digital sphere if they are going to meet the goals of families in Georgia. Managing digital assets in an estate plan can be challenging for a few reasons. Not only can they be hard to find, but they may require a password or some type of digital signature to access. Ownership rights are also not always clearly defined.

Digital assets, which are the information on devices and not the devices themselves, are important in estate planning because they can have real monetary and sentimental value. When a spouse with access to these assets unexpectedly passes away, the other spouse may not know what to do. Everything from bank accounts to online media collections may remain inaccessible.

Because college students in Georgia and elsewhere in the country tend to have busy summer schedules that involve things like internships, summer jobs and trips, January is a popular month for couples jointly pursuing higher education to exchange "I dos." Younger couples may have visions of a lifetime of wedded bliss together. However, prenuptial agreements may provide some added peace of mind for student couples.

Some college couples in the Peach State may not see the point of going to a family law attorney for an prenup. After all, most college couples don't have significant assets to protect, and many of them haven't even started their careers yet. What they do tend to have is substantial education-related debt. If financing is involved, a prenup can predetermine the responsibility each party would have for any lingering debt obligations should a split occur.

People in Georgia who decide to divorce may face difficult questions about how to handle the marital home as part of the settlement. Unlike traditional financial assets, the home cannot simply be split like a bank account or retirement fund. However, unlike other sentimental items, the home has a great deal of material value and is often the largest single asset held by the divorcing couple. Due to the difficulties involved, many couples address this issue by selling the home as part of the divorce. The sale of the home allows the proceeds to be used to pay off a mortgage balance and distribute the remaining funds as part of the overall settlement.

However, in many cases, one spouse wants to remain in the family home after the divorce is concluded. This is especially common if there are children involved and the remaining spouse is the primary caregiver or custodial parent. While this can be a positive solution for some couples, it requires thinking about the financial consequences of keeping the home. In most cases, the remaining spouse will need to buy out the interest of the other spouse in the home, often requiring a significant sum.