Watch out guys: Georgia court orders man pay one-time fiancé $50,000 for breaking promise to marry her

Another article...


A Georgia man is undecided about whether to challenge a state appeals court's decision that he must pay his jilted former fiancée $50,000, his lawyer says.

Accused of breach of promise to marry, part of his defense was that he never said the words, "Will you marry me?" to her, the court filing states.

On Dec. 23, 2004, Christopher Ned Kelley, who works in IT, gave Melissa Cooper a ring valued at about $10,000, a court document states; she accepted and the two moved to a new home. Since 2000, Kelly, had lived with Cooper, who also had a child with him, the filing says.

She says she left her job at his request to stay home and raise their child and her child from a previous relationship, according to a court document.

But after the proposal, she learned that Kelley had been in a two-year relationship with another woman that began before the proposal. After Cooper confronted him, she agreed to stay with him "because of his pledges not to see the other woman again and his promises thereafter to marry Cooper," the court document states.

But in April 2011, when Cooper confronted him about a relationship with yet another woman, he told her that he wanted to be with that woman and that Cooper and the children should move out.

"Cooper was 'devastated' by this development," the court document stated.

In response, Cooper filed a lawsuit for a number of claims, including fraud and breach of contract to marry. The Coweta County Superior Court awarded her $43,500 and attorney fees of $6,500.



More at [link to abcnews.go.com]

will you marry me?

Hah...well this probably sets precedence for all sorts of things now.

before you marry a lady....have her listen to this song.

Why does one stay in a rocky relationship for 10 years... To be miserable?

10 years and a child?
Aren't they common law wed?

Even if he did promise and back out of it, since when is that a binding contract? So is this court saying that anyone who re=negs out of a promise should be ordered to pay heavy fines and shit? Maybe we should sue barky.. With all his broken promises he would owe about a trillion.. Lets just sue everyone for breaking promises.. Wtf kind of society is this? And where is the law requiring such a payment for negating a promise?

i am pretty sure you have to file a formal common law declaration to be considered common law..

Disgusting!

Perhaps they tried to make it work but it obviously couldn't.

Coupla things at play:

Georgia LOVE to punish and make shit up as it goes.

Depends on the laws of the state they live in. Here in Indiana, there is no recognized common law marriage, but in Illinois, if you live together for at least 7 years, it is recognized as a common law marriage.

In some states - mostly in the south - if you LIVE WITH a woman for a certain amount of time, you are considered common law married. So yeah watch out.

Even though that may be the case, wouldn't that mean alimony may be required, versus a lump sum for a breach of "promise"?

Bumping again..

Georgia doesn't recognize Common Law marriages therefore no matter how long you live together, it isn't legally binding with same rules as a legal marriage.

However, if a woman makes life decisions based on a marriage proposal, quits her job, moves to another city or state and plans her life with that person....and he cheats or decides this isn't what he wanted for the long haul...he must be held financially responsible for 'asking' her to make these life changing decisions to move to be with him.

It makes those be held accountable that if you decide one year you want to change someone's life...then you decide 'oh wait...this isn't what I want'...there needs to be some type of financial support for that person uprooting. If more courts did this...we'd have less people making rash decisions to jump into something with someone.

AKA - Alienation of Affection tort in North Carolina...it stops a lot of single people from having affairs that cause divorces for fear of their actions having financial repercussions.

This is no different than starting a business partnership with someone...you leave your job and then later the person decides 'oh fudge I don't want to do this business with you anymore even though you quit your job to do this partnership with me and now you have no job and you moved to a new state and it cost you thousands of dollars to set you back 10 years financially.

Why shouldn't breach of marriage promises work same way?

I applaud the Georgia courts for this.

This guy is a loser, a louse, a jerk and a liar and cheat. He should be ordered to pay.