Once a Georgia divorce is final, moving back in with your former spouse does not put the marriage back together or reopen the decree.
You Are Not Married Again
A final judgment of divorce under OCGA 19-5-12 declares that the marriage contract “be and is set aside and dissolved as fully and effectually as if no such contract had ever been made or entered into,” and that the parties “shall be held and considered as separate and distinct individuals altogether unconnected by any nuptial union or civil contract whatsoever.”
Living together afterward changes none of that. If you want to be married again, you have to marry again.
The Reconciliation Statute Stops at the Decree
Separated spouses who move back in together lose their permanent alimony provisions under OCGA 19-6-12. That statute applies only “where there has been no total divorce between them,” and the Georgia Supreme Court had said so before the words appeared in the Code.
In Travis v. Travis, 227 Ga. 406 (1971), a wife had received real property as permanent alimony in a divorce. The parties then married each other a second time and lived together. When that marriage failed, the husband asked the court to cancel the deed on the ground that their cohabitation had annulled the earlier alimony award, and the trial court did.
The Supreme Court reversed. The statute “applies when two events occur: when parties, (1) while married to each other, (2) voluntarily cohabit with each other,” and it “does not apply where there has been a total divorce.” A second marriage to the same person is not a continuation of the first one, so the property she was awarded in the first divorce stayed hers.
If a remarriage does not disturb the first decree, plainly nothing less does.
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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!