No. Reconciling ends a Georgia spouse’s future right to permanent alimony, but it does not require anyone to hand anything back.
Why Not
Powell v. Powell, 196 Ga. 694 (1943), explains the reasoning. A husband had paid his wife $7,000 in cash for a written release of every claim she had against him. About a year later she came home. When he sued for divorce fourteen months after that, he argued she had to restore the money before she could ask the court for anything.
The Georgia Supreme Court disagreed. “The husband effectually gave his consent to annulling the agreement, by resuming the marital status.” She was not seeking to rescind the contract, which would have required her to give back what she got. “It is a case where the nullity arises by reason of the happening of certain events which the law says will render the contract void.”
A Deed Given to Get You Back Is Yours
Levine v. Levine, 204 Ga. 313 (1948), goes further. A husband struck his wife, they separated, and he deeded her a half interest in the family home to persuade her to return. He was cruel again, she sued for divorce, and the trial court ordered her to deed the house back first.
The Georgia Supreme Court reversed. “It would be a novel legal principle that would compel this wife to suffer his breach or else, as a penalty for seeking redress, surrender that which he had freely given as an inducement for her return to him. There is no such law.”
It Can Still Count Later
Keeping it is not the same as ignoring it. Powell directs a court setting alimony after a later separation to weigh the spouse’s separate estate, “including the consideration, or what remained thereof, paid under the former agreement.”
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