Revision; judgment revered and case remanded;  Court had jurisdiction over mother’s appeal, even though appeal involved final divorce decree, which included child custody determination, rather than separate child custody order, since mother followed required application procedures for discretionary appeal; trial court had authority to revise custody award in this case beyond term in which trial court entered original custody decree, because father filed his motion for reconsideration within the term of court; however, trial court lacked authority to set aside its original custody determination without determining child’s best interests, regardless of whether mother was living with another man – mother contended that she and man in question did not live together prior to divorce and, since divorce, they had married and, at motion for reconsideration hearing, trial court simply followed its own policy of never awarding custody to parent living with non-relative.

Todd v. Todd, S10A0471 (06/01/2010), 10 FCDR 1754

From:  Fulton County Daily Report (06/11/2010)

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.

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 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)