Georgia allows a divorce where the wife was pregnant by another man when the parties married and the husband did not know it.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-5-3(5) makes a ground for total divorce out of “[p]regnancy of the wife by a man other than the husband, at the time of the marriage, unknown to the husband.” Because the problem existed at the moment of the marriage, this ground may also be the basis for an annulment.
Three things have to line up: she was pregnant on the wedding day, the child was not the husband’s, and he did not know about the pregnancy.
The Husband’s Knowledge Decides It
Peacon v. Peacon, 197 Ga. 748 (1944), shows how quickly that last element ends a case. The husband there said he was jailed on a seduction charge and married his wife to get out, having been told the child she carried was his. The Georgia Supreme Court held that a woman’s false representation that her prospective husband is the father “would not be ground for the grant of a divorce based upon fraud” where he married her to avoid a prosecution for seduction.
The reason is in the statute. The pregnancy that supports this ground is pregnancy “unknown to the husband,” and a man already on notice of it cannot say he was deceived into the marriage.
This Ground Affects the Child’s Legitimacy
Almost nothing about a divorce changes a child’s status. This ground is the exception.
OCGA 19-7-20(b) states it plainly: “If pregnancy existed at the time of the marriage and a divorce is sought and obtained on that ground, the child, although born in wedlock, will not be legitimate.” OCGA 19-5-15 carves out the same single exception on the divorce side.
That consequence is worth weighing before choosing this ground over another.
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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!