Atlanta Divorce Lawyer’s Guide to Grounds for Divorce – Pregnancy

In Georgia, parties cannot obtain a divorce except on one of 13 grounds allowed by law.OCGA §19-5-3. The fifth ground under the statute is "[p]regnancy of the wife by a man other than her husband, at the time of the marriage, unknown to the husband." OCGA§19-5-3(5).

This ground is fairly straightforward, but all of the elements must be sufficiently proven. The Petitioner must prove that the wife was pregnant at the time of the marriage, that the child is not the husband's biological child, and that the husband did not know that the wife was pregnant with someone else's child. Since the party must prove that the child is not the husband's biological child, there must be a paternity test and, thus, if the divorce is based solely on this ground, the parties will have to wait until after the child is born to obtain the divorce.