Daniels v. Daniels

Supreme Court of Georgia

Daniels v. Daniels

374 S.E.2d 735, 258 Ga. 791, 1989 Ga. LEXIS 8

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia

DecidedJanuary 6, 1989

Docket46257

StatusPublished

Cited by1 cases

This text of 374 S.E.2d 735 (Daniels v. Daniels) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Daniels v. Daniels, 374 S.E.2d 735, 258 Ga. 791, 1989 Ga. LEXIS 8 (Ga. 1989).

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Opinion

Clarke, Presiding Justice.

The trial court terminated former wife’s alimony based on the live-in lover statute, OCGA § 19-6-19 (b). The statute provides that where the alimony recipient enters into a relationship of voluntary cohabitation, dwelling together continuously and openly in a meretricious relationship with a member of the opposite sex, this shall be grounds to modify permanent alimony. As we held most recently in Reiter v. Reiter, 258 Ga. 101 (365 SE2d 826) (1988), the relationship must be meretricious and continuous and open to provide grounds for modification. All of these elements must be present. Here, the relationship resulted in the birth of a child. Although the evidence supports a finding of periodic sexual encounters, there is no evidence that the parties dwelled together continuously or openly. Therefore, the relationship fails to meet the standard authorizing a modification of permanent alimony under OCGA § 19-6-19 (b).

Judgment reversed.

All the Justices concur.

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Clarke, Presiding Justice.

The trial court terminated former wife’s alimony based on the live-in lover statute, OCGA § 19-6-19 (b). The statute provides that where the alimony recipient enters into a relationship of voluntary cohabitation, dwelling together continuously and openly in a meretricious relationship with a member of the opposite sex, this shall be grounds to modify permanent alimony. As we held most recently in Reiter v. Reiter, 258 Ga. 101 (365 SE2d 826) (1988), the relationship must be meretricious and continuous and open to provide grounds for modification. All of these elements must be present. Here, the relationship resulted in the birth of a child. Although the evidence supports a finding of periodic sexual encounters, there is no evidence that the parties dwelled together continuously or openly. Therefore, the relationship fails to meet the standard authorizing a modification of permanent alimony under OCGA § 19-6-19 (b).

Judgment reversed.

All the Justices concur.

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Bluebook (online)

374 S.E.2d 735, 258 Ga. 791, 1989 Ga. LEXIS 8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daniels-v-daniels-ga-1989.

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