If you’re not legally married to your partner, there’s no built-in safety net. That’s the simplest way to explain it.
You might share a home, bank accounts, kids—even decades of life together—but under Georgia law, none of that guarantees your partner will be the one making decisions or receiving your assets if something happens to you. Without a plan, the law defaults to blood relatives, and unmarried partners are left out.
This surprises a lot of people.
Let’s start with medical decisions. If you’re in the hospital and unable to speak for yourself, doctors will turn to your next of kin—usually a parent or adult child. Not your partner. That’s the case unless you’ve signed a health care directive or medical power of attorney that names them as your decision-maker. It’s a simple form, but without it, they may be shut out entirely.
Same goes for finances. If your partner needs to pay bills, access a joint account that’s only in your name, or talk to your mortgage company while you’re incapacitated, they’ll need a signed financial power of attorney. Otherwise, they’ll have no legal authority to act on your behalf.
Then there’s the question of what happens when someone passes away. Without a will or trust in place, an unmarried partner receives nothing by default—not the house, not the accounts, not personal belongings. Everything passes according to the state’s intestacy laws, which favor spouses, children, parents, and siblings.
So if you want your partner to inherit anything, it needs to be written down in a legally valid document. A will is a good starting point. A trust can be even better if you want to avoid probate or plan for more complicated assets like real estate or shared business interests.
Property is another area where assumptions can cause problems. If only one person is on the deed, the other may have no claim to the home after death. That doesn’t mean you have to retitle everything jointly, but it does mean you should talk through what would happen and make a decision based on what feels fair and realistic.
If you’re raising kids together, there’s even more to consider. Legal parentage, guardianship, and inheritance rights can all get complicated fast if the plan isn’t clearly written.
This kind of planning doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It just needs to reflect the reality of your relationship—not what the law assumes. Marriage may carry automatic protections, but with the right documents in place, unmarried couples can create that same level of security on their own terms.
If you want your partner to be involved—not just emotionally, but legally—an estate plan is how you make that happen.
