§ 19-3-46.Forfeiture for officiating at marriage without license or banns
Chapter 3. Marriage Generally · Article 2. License and Ceremony · Last amended 2010 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-3-46
Plain-English Summary
This section is the officiant’s counterpart to § 19-3-45. If the Governor or a former Governor, a judge, city recorder, magistrate, minister or other person authorized to perform the marriage ceremony joins a couple in marriage without a license or the publication of banns, that person shall forfeit $500.
The section borrows the machinery of § 19-3-45 for recovering and distributing the money. Under that section, the father or mother brings the action if living, and if not, the guardian or legal representative of either party; only one action may be maintained for any one marriage; no action may be brought before 60 days from the date the marriage becomes public or maintained after 12 months from that date; and after a reasonable attorney’s fee and court costs, one-third goes to the person who sued and two-thirds to the county educational fund. How each piece applies to a case against an officiant rather than a judge is a question the statute leaves to the court.
The same conduct has a criminal side. Under § 19-3-48, an officiant who marries a couple without a license or the publication of banns is guilty of a misdemeanor. So an officiant who marries a couple with neither a license nor banns faces a civil forfeiture here and possible prosecution there. The license comes from the probate court under § 19-3-30. The section was last amended in 2010.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if an officiant marries a couple without a license in Georgia?
Unless the couple’s banns were published, the officiant shall forfeit $500 under this section, recovered and appropriated as § 19-3-45 provides. Separately, § 19-3-48 makes it a misdemeanor for an officiant to marry a couple without a license or the publication of banns. Both sections put the penalty on the person who performed the ceremony.
Who can sue an officiant for performing a marriage without a license?
This section adopts § 19-3-45’s recovery rules, which give the action to the father or mother if living, and otherwise to the guardian or legal representative of either party to the marriage. That section also allows only one action per marriage. The statute doesn’t spell out how those rules adjust when the defendant is an officiant, so the details are for the court.
Does the $500 penalty apply to ministers or only to judges?
It applies to every kind of officiant the section lists: the Governor or any former Governor, any judge, city recorder, magistrate, minister, or other person authorized to perform the marriage ceremony. The probate judge’s separate $500 forfeiture for issuing a license improperly is in § 19-3-45.
Is there a deadline to sue an officiant under this section?
Yes, through § 19-3-45, which this section follows for recovery. Under that section, no action may be brought before 60 days from the date the marriage becomes public, and no action may be maintained after 12 months from that date. Filing outside that window runs against the statute’s terms.
Can a couple marry in Georgia using banns instead of a license?
This section treats a license and the publication of banns as alternatives: the forfeiture applies only when an officiant marries a couple without either one. Section 19-3-39 then requires the officiant in a banns marriage to certify it to the probate judge of the county where the banns were published, for recording. The statutes don’t describe how banns must be published, so ask the probate court how it handles them.
Amendment History
Laws 1983, p. 884, § 4-1; Laws 2010, Act 439, § 4, eff. July 1, 2010.
Formerly Code 1863, § 1662; Code 1868, § 1705; Code 1873, § 1706; Code 1882, § 1706; Civil Code 1895, § 2420; Civil Code 1910, § 2939; Code 1933, § 53-210.