In Georgia a prenuptial agreement, or marital agreement, is called a marriage contract, and foreign couples can sign one before a notary in Tbilisi on the same trip as their wedding. It has one required form and a short list of things it can never change. This guide covers what the contract can say, which country's law governs your property, how signing works, what the notary charges and how to use the contract at home.
Quick summary
- Georgia's version of a prenup is the marriage contract, which you can sign before or after the registration; one signed before takes effect on the day you marry.
- It must be in writing and certified by a notary, and it can cover property you own now and property you acquire later.
- It cannot change child support, parental rights, the spouses' duty to support each other or your right to go to court.
- Marrying in Tbilisi does not by itself put your property under Georgian law: shared nationality or a shared home decides, unless the contract chooses a law.
- The notary's fee comes from a state tariff based on the declared value of your existing property, GEL 362.50 at GEL 100,000, plus GEL 5 and VAT.
- An apostille for using the contract abroad costs GEL 30 to 150, and your home country decides how far it follows the terms.
On this page
What a Georgian Marriage Contract Can and Cannot Do
The Civil Code of Georgia (opens in a new tab) lets spouses, and couples about to marry, replace the property rules the law would otherwise apply with rules of their own. The contract can cover what each of you owns today and what you acquire later, and any term can run for a fixed period or depend on a condition, such as buying a home.
Couples use it to settle three questions: whose property is whose during the marriage, how income and household costs are shared, and what each of you takes if the marriage ends.
| Term | Allowed | Civil Code |
|---|---|---|
| Keep everything each of you earns and buys separate | Yes | Art. 1176 |
| Pool all your property, including what you owned before the wedding | Yes | Art. 1176 |
| Fix shares in a home or a business, such as 60 and 40 percent | Yes | Art. 1176 |
| Set who pays which household costs and how income is shared | Yes | Art. 1177 |
| Name the property each of you receives if the marriage ends | Yes | Art. 1177 |
| Make a term last for a set period or depend on a condition | Yes | Art. 1178 |
| Waive child support or change parental rights and duties | No | Art. 1179 |
| Remove the spouses' duty to support each other | No | Art. 1179 |
| Stop either of you from going to court in a dispute | No | Art. 1179 |
| Leave one of you in hardship | No | Art. 1179 |
A Georgian court can also change a term that leaves one spouse in an extremely unfavorable position, when that spouse asks and has valid reasons. A one-sided contract is the kind most exposed to that challenge.
From our Tbilisi team
The clause couples take longest to agree on is the future home. We ask you to decide before the trip whether an apartment bought after the wedding is shared equally, held in fixed shares or owned by whoever pays for it, because that is a hard conversation to finish across a notary's desk.
Who Owns What Without a Prenup in Georgia
Where Georgian law governs a marriage and there is no contract, anything either of you acquires during the marriage is joint property. That holds even if one of you earns the money while the other runs the household or looks after the children. On division each spouse takes an equal share, although a court can give more to the spouse the minor children live with.
- Property owned before the marriage stays with the spouse who owned it.
- Inheritances and gifts received during the marriage stay with the spouse who received them.
- Personal belongings bought with joint money belong to the spouse who uses them, except valuables.
- Separate property that rises sharply in value because of money spent on it during the marriage, such as an apartment rebuilt with joint savings, can become joint property unless a contract says otherwise.
After a divorce, either spouse has 3 years to claim a division of the joint property.
Which Country's Law Governs a Foreign Couple's Property
Marrying in Tbilisi does not on its own put your property under Georgian law. Georgia's Law on Private International Law (opens in a new tab) looks first to the country you both belong to, then to the country where you both habitually live, and failing both, to the country you are jointly most closely connected with.
You can also choose the law yourselves, in notarial form, which a marriage contract already has. The choice can name the country of either partner's nationality, the country where either of you habitually lives, or the country where a piece of real estate sits.
| Couple | No law chosen | Laws you can choose |
|---|---|---|
| Two German citizens living in Munich | German law | German law, or the law where you own real estate |
| A German and an Italian living in Berlin | German law, as your shared home | German or Italian law, or the law where you own real estate |
| An Indian and a Filipino citizen both living in Dubai | UAE law, as your shared home | Indian, Philippine or UAE law, or the law where you own real estate |
| A French citizen in Paris and a Georgian citizen in Tbilisi | The law of the country you are most closely connected with | French or Georgian law, or the law where you own real estate |
This is how Georgian law answers the question. A court in another country applies its own rules and can reach a different answer.
From our Tbilisi team
Before drafting, we ask where you will live for the next few years and where your property is. When both answers point to one country, choosing that country's law in the contract means a court there reads it under rules it already knows.
Who Needs a Prenup When Marrying in Georgia
- One of you owns a home, savings or a company share before the wedding and wants it, and any rise in its value, kept separate in writing.
- One of you will build a business or earn much more during the marriage, and you want that income treated differently from the joint-property default.
- You live in different countries or plan to move, and want to fix which law governs your property instead of leaving it to conflict rules.
- You are buying property in Georgia and want each partner's share set from the start.
- You want it all done in one trip: the contract signed, the marriage registered and both documents apostilled before you fly home.
It is the wrong tool in two cases:
- Custody and child support. A Georgian marriage contract cannot decide either.
- A home country with its own procedure for prenups. If a court there only gives weight to agreements made its own way, sign the agreement there.
How to Sign a Prenuptial Agreement in Tbilisi
The contract fits into the same trip as the registration itself, which takes one working day at a Public Service Hall. Signing with the notary the day before keeps the registration day clear.
- Agree on the terms at home. Settle what stays separate, what is shared, who pays for what and which country's law applies, so the drafting starts from decisions rather than a blank page.
- Have it drafted in two languages. The Georgian text runs beside a language you both read, and a translator takes part in the signing when either of you does not speak Georgian.
- Sign before a notary. The notary identifies you from the passports in your registration paperwork, certifies the contract and records it in the electronic notarial register.
- Register the marriage. A contract signed before the registration takes effect at the moment the marriage is registered.
- Apostille it for home. The Public Service Development Agency apostilles notarial acts at any Public Service Hall, or legalizes them for a country outside the Apostille Convention.
Before the notary appointment
- Both passports, valid on the day
- A list of what each of you owns now, with a value for each item, since the notary's fee is worked out from it
- Your decision on future property: separate, shared equally or held in fixed shares
- Who pays for rent, school fees and other household costs
- The law you are choosing, if you are choosing one
- Every country where you will use the contract, so you know whether it needs an apostille or embassy legalization
What a Prenuptial Agreement Costs in Georgia
A notary does not set the price of a marriage contract. The fee comes from the state notary tariff and is worked out from the declared value of the existing property the contract covers, taken as at least GEL 60. It includes the notary's legal advice on the contract, and VAT and GEL 5 for the electronic notarial register come on top.
| Declared value of existing property | Notary's fee |
|---|---|
| Future property only, valued at the GEL 60 minimum | GEL 1.80 |
| GEL 10,000 | GEL 82.50 |
| GEL 50,000 | GEL 212.50 |
| GEL 100,000 | GEL 362.50 |
| GEL 300,000 | GEL 762.50 |
| GEL 1,000,000 | GEL 1,662.50 |
Before VAT and the GEL 5 register fee. The tariff caps the fee at GEL 10,000, and a value stated in a foreign currency is converted at the National Bank of Georgia rate on the day you pay.
Those amounts sit on top of the state fees for the wedding, where a registration without a ceremony is free and a ceremony or a registration away from the office costs GEL 75 to 255. We add a prenuptial agreement to either package from $250: drafted by a Georgian lawyer, notarized and translated.
One contract, from notary to apostille
- Notary's fee on GEL 100,000 of declared property
- GEL 362.50
- Electronic notarial register
- GEL 5
- Apostille on the 8th working day
- GEL 30
- State and notary fees, before VAT
- GEL 397.50
A faster apostille costs GEL 60 on the 4th working day, GEL 120 on the 2nd and GEL 150 on the same day.
Using a Georgian Prenup Abroad
A contract certified in Tbilisi is a Georgian notarial act, and it takes the same apostille as a marriage certificate, at the same GEL 30 to 150 depending on speed. For the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and other countries outside the Apostille Convention, it is legalized instead and then certified by that country's embassy. A contract drafted only in Georgian can be translated by the agency for GEL 30 a page when it is apostilled; a bilingual contract already carries your language.
An apostille proves the contract is genuine; it does not oblige a court abroad to follow it. Your home country decides that under its own law, and some countries look for independent legal advice for each partner, or full disclosure of assets, before they give a prenup weight.
From our Tbilisi team
If you live in a country with rules of its own for prenups, we send you the bilingual draft about a week before the trip, so a lawyer at home can read it while it is still a draft.