No. Once your spouse has been convicted and sentenced for a crime of moral turpitude, a later pardon does not take the divorce ground away.
The Question the Court Faced
Holloway v. Holloway, 126 Ga. 459 (1906), is the Georgia case on the point. A husband was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced “for a term exceeding two years.” His wife sued for divorce under what is now OCGA 19-5-3(8). He was then granted an executive pardon, and argued that it wiped out her claim.
The Georgia Supreme Court framed it plainly: “Can this right, given by statute, be destroyed by an executive pardon?”
What a Pardon Actually Does
The Court’s answer turns on the limits of a pardon. “The pardon restores the convict, so far as the public is concerned, to the position he occupied before the conviction. He is no longer infamous. He may vote, hold office, and perform other public functions.”
Then comes the line that decides the case: “Rights which have accrued to individuals as a result of the conviction are not affected by the pardon.”
A pardon settles accounts between your spouse and the State. It does not reach back and settle accounts between your spouse and you.
The Holding
“We think the better view is that the pardon of the convict does not destroy the right to a divorce, declared by statute to arise upon conviction and sentence.”
Worth knowing how the Court got there. It surveyed the treatise writers and the out-of-state cases and found them thin. Two leading authors stated the opposite rule, and of each the Court observed, “He cites no authority.”
What This Means in Practice
The ground vests when the conviction and the sentence exist. Nothing afterward – a pardon, an early release, or a clean record since – undoes it.
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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!