Reason #4: You were forced into marriage against your will.
As mentioned in the second part of our series on the thirteen reasons to divorce in Georgia, marriage must be entered into by both parties freely and voluntarily. Thus, if you were coerced into marriage, either through physical force or fraud, you may have one of the best reasons to seek a divorce in Georgia.
According to the Official Code of Georgia, “Force, menace, duress, or fraud in obtaining the marriage” is a reason sufficient to authorize a court to grant a total divorce. O.C.G.A. § 19-5-3(4). Put plainly, if an individual was forced into marriage against his or her will, menaced or threatened into entering into marriage, coerced or deceived into entering a marriage, that person may seek a divorce for this reason. Bryant v. Bryant, 192 Ga. 114 (1941). Anyone seeking a divorce for this reason must not only show that force, menace, duress or fraud precipitated the marriage, but also that he or she would not have married otherwise.