The breakup of a longtime couple who never married has divided judges of the state Court of Appeals, setting up a possible Georgia Supreme Court case.

The short version of the saga is that Christopher Ned Kelley gave his live-in girlfriend, Melissa Cooper, a $10,000 ring, but the two never legally tied the knot. After an affair by Kelley led to a split, Cooper persuaded a Coweta Circuit judge to award her $43,500, plus attorney fees, based on claims of broken promises and fraud.