If your spouse sued for divorce only on the ground that the marriage is irretrievably broken, going back to living together can defeat the case outright.
A Week Was Enough
In Woods v. Woods, 241 Ga. 393 (1978), a husband filed for divorce in November alleging that the marriage was irretrievably broken. That December, home on Christmas leave, he lived with his wife for a week. She denied the marriage was irretrievably broken and raised condonation as a defense.
The Georgia Supreme Court reversed the divorce that had been granted him. “[T]he husband’s claim for divorce in this case was terminated when he subsequently cohabited with his wife,” and the trial court “erred in failing to grant the wife’s motion for a directed verdict.”
Seven days did it. There is no minimum period the reconciliation has to last.
The Cohabitation Has to Come After the Claim
The sequence is what matters, and it is easy to get backwards. In Southworth v. Southworth, 265 Ga. 671 (1995), a couple cohabited, and the husband afterward amended his pending case to add a count seeking a divorce on the irretrievably broken ground.
Because the cohabitation came before that amendment rather than after it, the Georgia Supreme Court held that “even if Wife had pled the cohabitation defensively to Husband’s amendment seeking a divorce, no viable defense would have been raised thereby.”
So a reconciliation that happened before your spouse ever pleaded the no-fault ground does nothing for you. It has to follow the claim it answers.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!