Yes. In Georgia the spouse who files for divorce has to swear to the petition.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-5-5(a) provides that “[t]he action for divorce shall be brought by written petition and process, the petition being verified by the petitioner.”
Verifying means signing a sworn statement, before a notary or other officer authorized to administer an oath, that what the petition says is true. It is the petitioner personally who has to do it, not the lawyer.
The Answer Does Not Have to Be Verified
The requirement runs one way only. In Harrison v. Harrison, 228 Ga. 126 (1971), a wife argued that a defendant was in default because the answer had been verified by one defendant and not the other. The Georgia Supreme Court disposed of the point in a sentence: “The divorce statute requires that the petition for divorce be verified, but does not require that the answer be verified.”
So a spouse responding to a divorce is not swearing to anything by filing an answer.
Getting the Verification Wrong Is Not Fatal
In Edwards v. Edwards, 227 Ga. 307 (1971), a wife filed for divorce and alimony, and the verification on her complaint carried a conformed copy of her signature rather than her actual signature. Her husband moved to dismiss on the ground that the complaint was a nullity. Two days later she filed an amendment attaching a correct, sworn verification. The trial court dismissed the case anyway.
The Georgia Supreme Court reversed. The missing verification “did not render the suit null and void, but was an amendable defect which was supplied by amendment.”
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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!