Marriage & Validity
Requirements for a valid marriage in Georgia and consequences of invalid marriages.
Are Children of an Invalid Marriage Legitimate in Georgia?
Yes. Georgia abandoned the common law rule long ago, and the statute turns on whether the child was born before a court declared the marriage void.
Read MoreCan a Georgia Court Deny a Name Change Because You Are Transgender?
No. The Court of Appeals reversed two such denials in 2017, holding that fraud is the only statutory ground and public confusion is not one.
Read MoreCan You Sue Your Spouse in Georgia? Interspousal Tort Immunity
Marriage extinguishes a tort claim between spouses, including one that arose before the wedding, and divorce does not bring it back.
Read MoreCommon Law Marriage in Georgia: What Survived the 1997 Cutoff
Georgia stopped allowing new common law marriages on January 1, 1997, but one formed before that date is still a marriage today.
Read MoreDoes Georgia Recognize a Common Law Marriage From Another State?
Yes. Georgia's 1997 abolition of common law marriage reaches marriages formed in Georgia, not marriages lawfully formed somewhere else.
Read MoreForeign Country Marriages and Divorces: Georgia Applies Comity, Not Full Faith and Credit
The Constitution's full faith and credit clause stops at the national border. What a Georgia court owes a foreign decree is comity, and comity has limits.
Read MoreGeorgia's Marriage Age Requirements After the 2019 Rewrite
Eighteen, or seventeen with emancipation, a fifteen-day wait, a four-year age gap limit, and premarital education. Nobody under seventeen.
Read MoreHow a Marriage Is Actually Performed in Georgia
A license from a probate court, a ceremony by someone the license authorizes, and a return filed within 30 days.
Read MoreIs a Georgia Marriage Valid Without a License?
The Court of Appeals held in 2021 that no Georgia statute makes an unlicensed ceremonial marriage void. The penalty falls on the officiant.
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