Georgia recognizes a spouse’s decision to let relatives run the household as cruel treatment. What it will not do is charge your spouse with what your in-laws did on their own.
Letting Relatives Take Over the Home
In Holcombe v. Holcombe, 197 Ga. 105 (1943), a husband alleged that for three years his wife “insisted on permitting members of her family to take charge of plaintiff’s home, being present at all hours of the day and night,” and that when he asked that they not be there so much she would “criticize and abuse plaintiff to the extent that he was in a nervous turmoil wherein he could not properly digest his food or get the proper sleep and rest.”
He was an electrician who needed rest to do his job safely. The Georgia Supreme Court held those allegations, with others in the petition, sufficient to withstand a general demurrer on the ground of cruel treatment.
The Ground Runs Against Your Spouse, Not Your In-Laws
The other half of the rule matters just as much. In Vaughan v. Vaughan, 223 Ga. 298 (1967), a husband granted a divorce on cruel treatment had testified that he felt his wife’s mother had interfered with the marriage and plainly resented her for it. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed, holding that “[s]uch interference by the wife’s mother could not be attributed to the wife as cruel treatment.”
So the question is never whether your mother-in-law made your life difficult. It is whether your spouse willfully chose to let it happen, or joined in.
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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!