You do not have to prove adultery to use your spouse’s relationship with someone else. The humiliation of an improper association is cruel treatment in its own right.
The Rule
Poythress v. Poythress, 213 Ga. 882 (1958), settled the point. A husband objected that his wife’s amendment charged him with adultery by implication, and that adultery is a separate ground that cannot be shown when the ground pleaded is cruel treatment. The Georgia Supreme Court rejected that: “Upon a trial for divorce brought by the wife upon the ground of cruel treatment, it is proper to allege and prove the unconventional association of the husband with a named woman.”
The conduct in Poythress was “public companionship under conditions very distasteful to the plaintiff,” alleged to have been inflicted willfully to cause her mental pain and anguish.
What Can Be Alleged
In Jackson v. Jackson, 214 Ga. 619 (1959), a wife pleaded in detail that her husband spent most of his non-working hours with a named woman at her apartments and at social clubs, that they dined and drank together in public, and that he gambled with her at a country club. The trial court struck those paragraphs. The Georgia Supreme Court held that was error, because specific instances of misconduct are relevant and material where the petition charges continuous acts of cruelty over a period of years.
It Still Applies Today
In Popham v. Popham, 278 Ga. 852 (2005), evidence of an extramarital affair from fourteen years before the divorce was admissible to support the wife’s claim of cruel treatment.
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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!