§ 19-3-45.Actions for improper issuance of marriage license; attorney’s fee and court costs; disposition of balance of recovery
Chapter 3. Marriage Generally · Article 2. License and Ceremony · Last amended 1989 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-3-45
Plain-English Summary
This section puts a price on carelessness at the license counter. A probate judge who, personally or through a clerk, knowingly grants a marriage license without the required consent or without proper precaution in inquiring into minority shall forfeit $500 for every such act. The recovery runs against the offending judge and the judge’s bondsmen.
The section limits who may sue. The father or mother brings the action if living; if not, the guardian or legal representative of either of the contracting parties. Under no circumstances may more than one action be maintained in connection with any one marriage. Timing is fenced on both sides: no action may be brought before 60 days have passed from the date the marriage becomes public, and no action may be maintained after 12 months from that date.
The money is divided by formula. First, a reasonable attorney’s fee, fixed by the judge presiding over the case, goes to the lawyer for the person who brought the action. After court costs are paid, one-third of the rest goes to the person who brought the action, and two-thirds goes to the county educational fund of the county where the offending judge resides. Section 19-3-46 borrows this recovery and division for officiants who marry a couple without a license or banns.
The last sentence is a safe harbor. A judge who in good faith destroys physicians’ certificates of pregnancy, and the records of them, as the law provides, can’t be prosecuted under this section for failing to require such a certificate, if a birth certificate is issued for a child born to the applicants within the period of gestation after the license was issued. Current § 19-3-2 sets the age limits without mentioning parental consent or pregnancy certificates: it requires emancipation for a 17-year-old and bars any license for someone under 17.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue the probate judge for issuing a marriage license to my underage child?
This section allows a forfeiture action if the probate judge, personally or through a clerk, knowingly granted the license without the required consent or without proper precaution in inquiring into minority. The father or mother brings it if living; otherwise the guardian or legal representative of either party does. The forfeiture is $500 for every such act, recovered against the judge and the judge’s bondsmen. Whether the judge acted knowingly is for the court to decide.
How long do I have to bring an action for an improperly issued marriage license?
There’s a window. No action may be brought before 60 days have passed from the date the marriage becomes public, and no action may be maintained after 12 months from that date. The section bars an action outside that window. The clock runs from when the marriage becomes public, not from when the license was issued.
How is the $500 recovery divided?
First, a reasonable attorney’s fee, set by the judge trying the case, goes to the lawyer for the person who brought the action. Then court costs are paid. Of what remains, one-third goes to the person who brought the action, and two-thirds goes to the county educational fund of the county where the offending judge resides.
Can both parents sue over the same marriage?
No. The section says that under no circumstances shall more than one action be maintained by the father or mother, guardian or legal representative of either contracting party in connection with any one marriage. One action per marriage is the limit. The section doesn’t say which action goes forward if more than one is filed.
Does Georgia still require a pregnancy certificate or parental consent to marry?
Current Code Section 19-3-2 doesn’t mention either. It requires applicants to be at least 18, allows a 17-year-old to marry only with documentary proof of emancipation and other conditions, and bars any license for someone under 17. This section’s references to required consent and physicians’ certificates of pregnancy, including its good-faith safe harbor for destroying those certificates, remain in its text.
Amendment History
Laws 1924, p. 53, § 2; Laws 1927, p. 224, § 1; Laws 1939, p. 219, § 1; Laws 1939, p. 221, § 1; Laws 1965, p. 335, § 8; Laws 1972, p. 193, § 7; Laws 1976, p. 1719, § 5; Laws 1989, p. 605, § 2.
Formerly Code 1863, § 1661; Code 1868, § 1704; Code 1873, § 1705; Code 1882, § 1705; Civil Code 1895, § 2419; Civil Code 1910, § 2938; Code 1933, § 53-208.