Fictitious Marriage and the Nature of an Annulment Lawsuit
The Civil Code of Georgia lists among the grounds for declaring a marriage void a registration that did not aim at creating a family — the classic definition of a fictitious marriage. Such a marriage satisfies the formal requirements, yet no genuine family union exists behind it; the parties are often driven by property, migration or other transactional interests. The same article makes clear that only a court may declare a marriage void, and under a further provision of the Code no one may rely on the invalidity of a marriage unless and until a court decision to that effect exists. This is precisely why a properly drafted statement of claim, supported by the right evidence, determines the outcome of the case.
Who May Bring the Lawsuit
In cases of a fictitious marriage, the right to sue belongs to the territorial service of the agency, and where one of the spouses married without the aim of creating a family, the other spouse may also bring the claim — this rule is set by the article of the Code governing annulment of fictitious marriage. Other grounds follow different rules: marriage with a person below marriage age may be challenged at the demand of the minor spouse, their parents, their guardian or curator, as well as the guardianship and custody authority; if by the time of the hearing the minor spouse has reached marriage age or is pregnant, annulment is possible only at their own demand. Where the marriage was contracted in violation of impediment circumstances, the claim may be brought by the spouses, by persons whose rights were violated by that marriage, and by the guardianship and custody authorities.
There is also a fundamental time limit: after the death of both spouses, annulment can no longer be sought. The claim must therefore be raised in due time and substantiated with admissible evidence.
What the Court Establishes and Which Presumptions Apply
At the hearing the court assesses whether the registered persons actually created a family. Under the Civil Code, a marriage may not be declared fictitious if, before the court examined the case, the registered persons had in fact already created a family — an important instrument for protecting the second spouse. In cases of forced marriage, the fact of coercion must be established by the court. If the spouses were unaware of the impediment at the time of marriage, the presumption of validity applies: the marriage terminates from the moment the circumstance is established, but until then it produces all the legal consequences of a valid marriage. If, by the time of the hearing, the impediment no longer exists, the court may declare the marriage valid from the moment it was eliminated.
When a case concerns the annulment of a marriage with a recipient of support, the person who provides that support but is not the spouse must be joined to the case, where such a person exists, and, where necessary, the guardianship and custody authority as well. These procedural details often decide the fate of the application, which is why they must be addressed at the drafting stage of the statement of claim.