2025 Georgia Codes – Page 51

(a) A person commits the offense of bigamy when he, being married and knowing that his lawful spouse is
living, marries another person or carries on a bigamous cohabitation with another person.
(b) It shall be an affirmative defense that the prior spouse has been continually absent for a period of seven
years, during which time the accused did not know the prior spouse to be alive, or that the accused reason-
ably believed he was eligible to remarry.
(c) A person convicted of the offense of bigamy shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor
more than ten years.

(a) An unmarried man or woman commits the offense of marrying a bigamist when he marries a person
whom he knows to be the wife or husband of another.
(b) It shall be an affirmative defense that the prior spouse of the bigamist has been continually absent for a
period of seven years, during which time the accused did not know the prior spouse of the bigamist to be
alive, or that the accused reasonably believed the bigamist was eligible to remarry.
(c) A person convicted of the offense of marrying a bigamist shall be punished by imprisonment for not less
than one nor more than ten years.