“Void” and “voidable” sound like opposite categories. In Georgia marriage law they behave more like two points on a line.
What Void Means
OCGA 19-3-5(a) provides that “[m]arriages of persons unable to contract, unwilling to contract, or fraudulently induced to contract shall be void.” A marriage between people related within the prohibited degrees is likewise “void from their inception.” OCGA 19-3-3(b).
No court order is needed. Georgia courts “repeatedly held that an attempted bigamous marriage is void and may be disregarded without being decreed void by a judgment of court.” Campbell v. Allen, 208 Ga. 274 (1951).
What Voidable Means
Some defects can be outgrown. Where a person under the statutory age marries, “such marriage is void, subject to ratification after attainment of the required age.” Such marriages “partake more of the nature of voidable than void marriages; they are imperfect marriages which the party may affirm or disaffirm after reaching the age of consent.” Mims v. Hardware Mutual Casualty Co., 82 Ga. App. 210 (1950).
The burden of proving ratification sits on whoever asserts the marriage. Without it, Mims said, the marriage “remains completely lifeless.”
Ratification Is Statutory
OCGA 19-3-5(b) supplies both routes. Where a party was unwilling or fraudulently induced, “a subsequent consent and ratification of the marriage, freely and voluntarily made, accompanied by cohabitation as husband and wife shall render the marriage valid.” Where the marriage was void because a party lacked capacity, the same result follows “after removal of the impediment to marriage.”
Why the Labels Matter Less Than You Think
The Supreme Court of Georgia put it bluntly: “the distinction between so-called void and voidable ceremonial marriages is more imaginary than real, and the relationship, if continued after the disability is removed, becomes valid in either case.” Beebe v. Beebe, 227 Ga. 248 (1971).
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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!