Georgia’s Business Courts, Explained

Georgia’s statewide Business Court exists to give companies a forum built for complex commercial disputes, in front of judges who handle this kind of case regularly, instead of a general civil docket. Until recently, using it was largely optional.

That changed on July 1, 2026, when House Bill 1185 significantly expanded the court’s reach. Companies can now designate the Business Court as the exclusive forum for internal entity claims, such as shareholder and governance disputes, directly in their governing documents. New procedural pathways also allow internal entity claims to be removed from superior or state court into the Business Court, with agreements permitting removal windows of up to a year.

What this means in practice: forum selection is no longer just a litigation-stage decision. It is now something worth thinking about when you draft or update your bylaws or operating agreement, well before any dispute exists. Companies that build a Business Court designation into their governance documents now have more certainty about where a future internal dispute will be heard.