Opinion ID: 2621936
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Analysis of Georgia statute and caselaw.

Text: ¶ 8 The applicable Georgia statutory provision is Ga.Code 1982 § 19-6-5. It provides in pertinent part: ... (b) All obligations for permanent alimony, however created, the time for performance of which has not arrived, shall terminate upon remarriage of the party to whom the obligations are owed unless otherwise provided.... The Georgia Supreme Court has specifically addressed the otherwise provided language of the statute. In Daopoulos v. Daopoulos, 257 Ga. 71, 73, 354 S.E.2d 828 (1987), it held that, in order to avoid the general rule of termination of support on remarriage, the agreement must expressly refer to the remarriage of the recipient and specify that the event shall not terminate the permanent alimony obligations. Here, the language of the alimony provision provides only that the alimony will continue until the wife's death. It does not, as Daopoulos requires, address the remarriage issue nor does it provide that, in such an event, alimony will continue. ¶ 9 Georgia's highest court has remained faithful to Daopoulos. The appellate court has determined that utilization of the term permanently in association with alimony obligations is insufficient to require continued payment after remarriage. [12] Particularly instructive here are Findley v. Findley, 280 Ga. 454, 629 S.E.2d 222 (2006) and Metzler v. Metzler, 267 Ga. 892, 485 S.E.2d 459 (1997). In Findley, the Georgia court determined that the obligation to pay support terminated upon the death of the obligor unless there was a clear expression of intent to extend payments beyond death. More importantly, in Metzler, where the support provision provided that alimony would terminate upon the death of either party, the language was held insufficient to preserve the wife's right to support after she remarried. ¶ 10 Here, the alimony provision merely provides that the wife is entitled to receive alimony payments until her death. [13] There is no reference in the agreement regarding the wife's remarriage, nor any indication that alimony should continue beyond that event. Undoubtedly, when measured by Georgia statutory and jurisprudential standards, the wife is not entitled to continued alimony payments subsequent to her remarriage.