Thank you for that comprehensive answer, DMarkM1. Excellent overview & instructions!
I'm inclined to go with your Option "B", with both spouses filing jointly for federal and with the both spouses filing as Georgia residents for the entire year (as well as filing a non-resident SC return to report the military spouse's SC income, with a corresponding credit taken for SC taxes incurred on the GA return).
My concern was whether it was ok to file jointly as a "full year" GA resident, even though the military spouse was married to the military taxpayer for less than the 12 months of the year.
Technically, she lived (and earned income) in SC for 3 months and in Virginia (with no income) for 9 months; however, since the military taxpayer's home of record was Georgia (and even though the military taxpayer was stationed all 12 months in Virginia), happily I can avoid filing both a part-year SC resident return and a part-year GA resident return for the military spouse who files MFS.
