In order to bring a claim for wrongful death of spouse in a
civil action or for statutory benefits provided under Worker’s Compensation
Law, the validity of a marriage will directly affect the standing of the party
claimant. In general, parents are not liable in damages for the torts of their
minor children based on the parent-child relationship; rather, such liability
must be based on the doctrine of principal agent or master servant. A loss of
parental power forfeits the parent’s right to share in a claim for the wrongful
death of his or her child. Under wrongful death action children of the decedent
who were born after decedent’s death are considered children in being at the
decendent’s death provided 1) were conceived before decedent’s death 2) they
were born within 10 months of the decedent’s death 3) they survived 120 hours
or more after birth. The doctrine of interspousal immunity exists to preserve
the sanctity of marriage and to prevent the possibility of collusive lawsuits.
Generally, one spouse cannot maintain an action for tort against the other
spouse, even though the tort was committed prior to the marriage, and this is
true even after the divorce, separation or pending divorce of the parties.
However, this doctrine may be abrogated where there is no marital harmony or
unity to preserve and there is no possibility of collusion. This doctrine does
not violate the due process or equal protection clauses. Where a married couple
appeared pro se in a civil action against a third party, it was proper to
forbid the husband who is not an attorney to act as attorney for his wife and
this did not violate the sanctity of their marriage. A cause of action for
fraud based upon misrepresentations about marital status is recognized in
Georgia. Fraud will lie where 1) a person misrepresents his or her marital
status 2) such person promises to marry the other party, and 3) the other party
reasonably relies to his or her detriment. But where there is no
misrepresentation of marital status, an action for fraud would not lie. On a
related issue, where a minister is in a confidential relationship with his
parishioner, justiciable issues would lie on a civil action for sexual
seduction of the parishioner, and a loss of consortium claim of the husband.
Brewer v. Paulk, 296 Ga. App. 26 (2009). Breach of promise to marry is a common
law contract action. Requirements for a claim
include 1) an actual promise to marry 2) an acceptance of that promise 3) a breach
of the accepted promise. A defense to an action for breach of promise to marry
is that the parties were in a meretricious relationship i.e., unmarried and
living together in a sexual relationship; but this defense is inapplicable
where the object of the contract is not illegal nor against public policy, and
the illegality or immorality is only collateral to the contract. Accordingly,
since marriage is favored by Georgia public policy, the fact that the parties
were living together both before and after the marriage proposal was only
collateral to the promise to marry, and the meretricious relationship defense
is inapplicable and the promise to marry unenforceable.Contact a Paulding County divorce lawyer today.
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