Revisiting Georgia Statute That Imports Florida Exemptions

Can a Georgia resident protect from a judgment creditor his Georgia residence pursuant to the an unlimited homestead exemption provided by Florida Constitution? He can if the creditor obtained his judgment in a Florida court.

A long time ago I wrote a blog post about a newly enacted Georgia law that provided Georgia residents to import exemptions from other states when the creditor had domesticated in Georgia a judgment rendered outside of Georgia. The law came to my attention this week when a Georgia resident called me to inquire about the law. Since then, I spoke to Georgia collection attorneys who stated they had never heard of the statute.

The Georgia statute says that a Georgia resident may apply exemptions available the residents of any state where a judgment was entered and then domesticated in Georgia. So, a Georgia resident who was sued in Florida could apply to his Georgia property the exemptions available to residents of Florida.

There is a general principal that laws applicable to real estate are based upon the laws of the jurisdiction where the real estate is situated. It does not seem logical that a Georgia court is required to apply exemptions applicable to Florida residents’ homesteads to Georgia houses. This is the result of the Georgia statute. I researched the statute and found no case law interpreting its application to Georgia real property.

Last updated on May 22, 2020