Cruel treatment is one of the grounds Georgia’s condonation statute reaches, so taking your spouse back can cost you the claim.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-5-4(a)(4) provides that no divorce shall be granted where “[t]here has been a voluntary condonation and cohabitation subsequent to the acts complained of, with notice thereof.” That subsection speaks of “the acts complained of” without naming any ground. But the bars sitting alongside it name cruel treatment outright, and the Georgia Supreme Court has applied condonation to a cruel treatment case directly.
Why It Bites Harder on a Cruel Treatment Case
Cruel treatment carries a requirement the other grounds do not. A divorce on this ground presupposes a bona fide separation. So a reconciliation does more than forgive the past conduct – it can erase the separation the ground itself depends on.
In Sutton v. Sutton, 224 Ga. 140 (1968), a husband moved out and filed for divorce on cruel treatment. A consent order let him move back in, the couple reconciled the following month, and he wrote his lawyer instructing him to dismiss the case, though he never mailed the letter. They stayed in the same house until the divorce was granted months later, with the husband sleeping on the couch.
The Georgia Supreme Court reversed. The evidence failed to establish a bona fide separation after the reconciliation and condonation, and the petition was never amended to allege one.
Not Every Act of Cruelty Can Be Condoned
Georgia draws a line between kinds of cruelty. Acts of bodily cruelty can be condoned. A course of continuous cruel treatment generally cannot, because the continuity is what makes the conduct cruel treatment in the first place. There is nothing finished to forgive while it is still going on.
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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!