Desertion is the seventh ground for divorce in Georgia. OCGA 19-5-3(7) allows a total divorce for “[w]illful and continued desertion by either of the parties for the term of one year.”
What Desertion Means
The statute does not define the word, so the courts did. Cagle v. Cagle, 193 Ga. 34 (1941), supplies the definition Georgia still uses:
“Desertion, within the meaning of our statute on divorce, is the voluntary separation of one of the married parties from the other, or the voluntary refusal to renew a suspended cohabitation, without justification either in the consent or the wrongful conduct of the other.”
Notice what has to be absent as well as present. The departure cannot be justified by the other spouse’s conduct, and it cannot have been agreed to.
What a Court Looks For
Reagan v. Reagan, 221 Ga. 656 (1966), shows the findings that support a decree. The jury there was authorized to find “that appellant left Mrs. Reagan, that he intended to desert her, that he acted without justification and that cohabitation was not resumed and that the desertion continued for a period of at least one year.”
The facts were domestic and ordinary. A dispute over religion divided the couple, and the husband told his wife that if she attended her meeting again he would be gone when she returned. She went. He was.
A Note on Older Cases
Georgia once required three years of desertion. The General Assembly shortened it to one year in 1946, so decisions before then apply a longer period than the law does now.
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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!