Denial of appellant’s motion for contempt and emergency change of custody, AFFIRMED, as some evidence supported trial court’s ruling that appellee was not in contempt; though parties’ divorce decree did not award child support due to appellant’s then existing health problems, it did not debar appellee from exercising his legitimate right to seek child support at some future time and appellant failed to show that change in custody was necessary or in child’s best interest; absent transcript, evidence presumably supported trial court’s ruling, in any event; after trial court declined to award any child support in divorce action, appellee filed action for child support through Child Support Enforcement Office, which entered order granting support from appellant, though order was later temrinated to to appellant’s health problems.

Jones v. Foster, A10A0278 (05/03/2010), 10 FCDR 1527

From:  Fulton County Daily Report (05/14/2010)

Mother’s appeal of custody in parties’ final divorce decree, DISMISSED, for lack of jurisdiction over mother’s direct appeal;  O.C.G.A. § 5-6-35(a) (2) required mother to file application for discretionary appeal, because this was divorce case in which child custody was at issue, not child custody case; child custody determination did not transform divorce action into child custody case under § 5-6-34; Court reiterated that ‘”underlying subject matter generally controls over the relief sought in determining the proper procedure to follow to appeal.”‘

Todd v. Todd, S10A0471 (03/29/2010), 10 FCDR 1010

From:  Fulton County Daily Report (4/09/2010)

Dismissal of father’s new/amended contempt application concerning mother’s alleged violation of his visitation rights, REVERSED; father had right under O.C.G.A. § 5-6-34 as amended to directly appeal dismissal of his contempt motion, father’s new contempt motion gave mother adequate notice of nature of his claim and trial court’s sua sponte dismissal without hearing did not afford father due process; mother’s contention that trial court lacked personal jurisdiction was meritless, even though mother had moved out of state, since father’s properly served prior contempt motion was still pending when he served mother with new/amended motion and father’s service of new/amended motion on mother’s attorney of record in prior pending action was sufficient to confer personal jurisdiction.

Dennis v. Dennis, A10A0500 (03/10/10), 10 FCDR

From the Fulton County Daily Report, 3/26/2010.

Judgment AFFIRMED in parties’ divorce action;  trial court did not abuse its discretion by setting visitation schedule; husband did not present his evidence to trial court, recommending that children have more time with non-custodial parent, nor did trial counsel raise argument at trial; husband’s contention that trial court did not ascertain reason he was earning less than his potential income, REJECTED;  although trial court did not make explicit findings in this regard, it was not required to make written findings and, thus, it cannot be said that trial court did not ascertain reasonableness of husband’s occupational choice.

Bankston v. Lachman, S09F1706 (02/01/2010), 10 FCDR 229.

From:  Fulton County Daily Report, 2/12/2010.

Judgment granting father’s motion to enforce settlement agreement pertaining to child custody and visitation and awarding him primary physical custody of his two children, AFFIRMED; absent transcript, trial court presumably did not err in rejecting mother’s claims that she did not assent to settlement’s terms and lacked capacity to contract at time in question due to medical condition;  Court had jurisdiction over direct appeal of matter, since relevant legal action for jurisdictional purposes was father’s motion to enforce settlement agreement, which he filed after 2007 amendment to OCGA § 5-6-34 providing that all judgments or orders in child custody cases are directly appealable – and not divorce complaint, which was filed prior to amendment.

Martinez v. Martinez, A10A0248 (11/24/09), 09 FCDR 3955

From:  Fulton County Daily Report, 12/18/2009.

Creation of $250K trust to fund future child support payment, AFFIRMED:  Court had jurisdicion to consider father’s appeal, even though father filed his appeal outside of 30 days of trial court’s order, since certain details of trust were not specified and order contemplated further court action; trial court was authorized to create trust under OCGA 19-6-15, because statue provided for instances where trial court had discretion to deviate from child support table and statue as a  whole gives trial court broad discrtion when ruling on child support obligations; trust did not violate OCGA 9-5-6, which prevents creditiors without liens from enjoining debtors from disposing of property, ince some evidence showed that father wasted or mismanaged his assets and that he was in arrears several times with child support payments; trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering trust that only benefited one of father’s children, because trial court considered other child support orders when it calculated support award, trust was fully funded by father’s 2007 an 2008 bonus money and trial court did not have authority to enter trust awards for any other child; trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering $250K to be placed in trust, because it had discretion to create trust and father did not show any error in trail court’s calcautions.

Henry v. Bacham, A09A1129 (11/19/09)

From:  Fulton County Daily Report (12/11/2009)

Ruling on contempt sanction partially reversed; trial court impermissiby modified divorce decree when it ordered ex-husband to pay his ex-wife $1875 in lieu of transferring one-half of his 401(K) account to her;  contempt order did not merely clarify 401(K) provision in divorce decree, but transmuted award into presently-due-cash obligation; ample evidence supported trial court’s finding that ex-wife did not willfully disobey divorce decree provision requiring her to leave marital residence – run-down mobile home – in same condition; trial court did not fail to consider parties’ financial circumstances in awarding ex-wife $1,200 in attorney’s fees for contempt proceeding but trial court should reconsider fees on remand and consider revising it in its discretion to extent it was based on 401(k) issue; ex-husband waived right to closing argument at contempt hearing when he failed to request it.

Killingsworth v. Killingsworth, S09A1137 (11/23/09)

From:  Fulton County Daily Report (12/4/2009)

Grant of defendant’s motion to dismiss, REVERSED; when trial court considered matters outside pleadings, such as affidavits and testimony from underlying divorce proceedings, it converted motion to dismiss into motion for summary judgment and plaintiff was entitled to hearing following his timely request.

Fitzpatrick v. Harrison, A09A1409 (10/30/09)

From:  Fulton County Daily Report (11/30/2009)

GA Judgment PARTIALLY REVERSED on remand for consideration of attorney’s fees in parties’ divorce case, as trial court exceeded its discretion in modifying final divorce decree with regard to award to wife of percentage of parties’ retirement plans; final decree valued wife’s “retirement funds according to the date of transfer with-out any mention of specific dates” and valuation adopted by trial court on remand was contrary to final decree.

Leggette v. Leggette, S09A1503 (11/09/09)

From:  Fulton County Daily Report (11/20/09)

GA Grant of wife’s motion to set aside default judgment in parties’ divorce case, AFFIRMED, under right for any reason rule; OCGA 19-5-8 prohibits default judgments in divorce, alimony and child custody actions.

Harold v. Harold, S09A1854 (11/09/09)

From:  Fulton County Daily Report (11/20/2009)