No. An annulment undoes the marriage, but it does not undo a crime committed in getting into it.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-4-5 says that a decree of annulment “shall not operate to relieve the parties to a marriage of criminal charges or responsibilities occasioned by the marriage.”
That sentence sits directly after the one returning the parties to their status before the marriage, and it is there to prevent an obvious abuse. Otherwise a person could commit an offense by marrying and then have a civil court wipe it out.
Which Charges
The offenses this reaches are the ones the marriage itself creates. Bigamy is the plain example. So is marrying a close relative. OCGA 19-3-3(a) covers marrying a person you know to be a parent, child, stepchild, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild, and it reaches an aunt and nephew or an uncle and niece. The penalty is “imprisonment for not less than one nor more than three years,” and OCGA 19-3-3(b) makes such marriages “void from their inception.”
Note what that combination means. The very fact that makes the marriage annullable is the fact that makes it a crime, so the annulment can never be a defense.
Civil Responsibilities Survive Too
The statute is not limited to criminal exposure. In McKinney v. McKinney, 242 Ga. 607 (1978), the Georgia Supreme Court held that these responsibilities “are not limited to criminal charges but include civil liabilities, such as necessaries furnished the wife by a third person.”
In that case the court also treated the wife’s attorney fees for obtaining the annulment as a responsibility occasioned by the marriage, reasoning that “[e]quity will not permit a husband to rely on his own wrong so as to preclude the wife from being restored to the status quo without legal expense to herself.”
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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!