Georgia does not require a bruise. OCGA 19-5-3(10) reaches the willful infliction of pain that is “bodily or mental.”
Mental Pain Counts the Same
In Cohen v. Cohen, 194 Ga. 573 (1942), the Georgia Supreme Court quoted Glass v. Wynn, 76 Ga. 319 (1886): “Mental anguish, wounded feelings, constantly aggravated by repeated insults and neglect, are as bad as actual bruises of the person, and that which produces the one is not more cruel than that which causes the other.”
Likewise, in Slaughter v. Slaughter, 190 Ga. 229 (1940), the Court said of the acts alleged there that “no actual physical violence was shown, but that is not an essential ingredient of cruel treatment as used in our divorce statute, or as construed by this court.”
The Conduct Still Has to Reach the Statutory Level
Mental cruelty is not a lower bar. Whatever the conduct, it must be willful and it must reasonably justify apprehension of danger to your life, limb, or health. Hurt feelings alone do not get there.
Two features usually do the work. The first is repetition, which is why the rule speaks of insults “constantly aggravated.” The second is the effect on your health, which is the measure the statute actually sets.
It Does Not Have to Happen in Front of You
Slaughter also recognized that “[t]here may be many instances of wilful, harmful conduct that occur out of the presence of the other spouse, which nevertheless constitute acts as cruel as those which might be committed in the immediate presence of the other while living together under the same roof.”
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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!