Georgia grants an annulment only for a marriage the law already treats as void, not for a marriage you regret.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-4-1 gives the superior court power to grant “[a]nnulments of marriages declared void by law.” The question is never whether the marriage was a mistake. It is whether the marriage was void the day it happened.
Which Marriages Are Void
OCGA 19-3-5(a) supplies the general rule: “Marriages of persons unable to contract, unwilling to contract, or fraudulently induced to contract shall be void.”
OCGA 19-3-2(a) then sets out who is able to contract a marriage at all. A person must:
- Be of sound mind;
- Be at least 18 years of age, subject to a narrow exception at 17;
- Have no living spouse of a previous undissolved marriage; and
- Not be related to the prospective spouse by blood or marriage within the prohibited degrees.
A marriage that failed any of those requirements was void when the ceremony was performed.
You May Not Need a Decree, But You Probably Want One
Some void marriages are nullities on their own. In Gearllach v. Odom, 200 Ga. 350 (1946), the Georgia Supreme Court said an attempted bigamous marriage “is utterly void, and may be disregarded without ever being decreed void by a judgment of a court.”
The court nevertheless allowed the case to go forward, because the marriage still appeared as a valid one on the public record. Georgia presumes the later of two marriages is the valid one, and “the burden is upon the one attacking it to overcome this presumption by proving its invalidity.” A decree settles that while the proof is still available.
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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!