---
title: O.C.G.A. § 19-3-5. What marriages void; legitimacy of issue; effect of later ratification.
collection: code
id: 19-3-5
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 19-3-5 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/19-3-5
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/19-3-5.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/19-3-5/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t18-t19-(v16)-2022-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=b0848ebd_0#page=322
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: DOMESTIC RELATIONS / MARRIAGE GENERALLY / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 19-3-5. What marriages void; legitimacy of issue; effect of later ratification.

(a) Marriages of persons unable to contract, unwilling to contract, or fraudulently induced to contract shall be void. However, the issue of such a marriage born before the marriage is annulled and declared void by a competent court shall be legitimate.

(b) In the case of persons unwilling to contract or fraudulently induced to do so, a subsequent consent and ratification of the marriage, freely and voluntarily made, accompanied by cohabitation as husband and wife shall render the marriage valid. In the case of a marriage void on one of the grounds specified in paragraphs (1) through (3) of Code Section 19-3-2, after removal of the impediment to marriage, a subsequent free and voluntary consent and ratification of the marriage accompanied by cohabitation as husband and wife shall likewise render the marriage valid.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 1657; Code 1868, § 1701; Code 1873, § 1702; Code 1882, § 1702; Civil Code 1895, § 2416; Civil Code 1910, § 2935; Code 1933, § 53-104.

## Law Reviews

For article, “Annulment of Marriage in Georgia,” see 5 Ga. B.J. 22 (1942).

For article, “Georgia Inheritance Rights of Children Born Out of Wedlock,” see 23 Ga. St. B.J. 28 (1986).

For annual survey of law of domestic relations, see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 179 (1986).