The Court of Appeals affirmed an award of child custody to a maternal grandfather in its October 2015 decision in Brawner v. Miller.(1) There, the biological father of two minor children had petitioned for legitimation and custody after the children’s mother was murdered. Although the trial court gr...
The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed an award of child custody to maternal grandparents in its March 2002 decision in Burke v. King.(1) There, the divorced father of a minor child filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus after his former wife – who had custody of the child – died and her sister...
As previously discussed, Georgia law since 2001 has required a grandparent (or certain other designated relatives) seeking custody of a child against a parent to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the child will suffer physical harm or significant, long-term emotional harm if custody were...
A prior article discussed the preclusion of self-executing changes in child custody under Georgia law. With the recent issuance of an appellate decision on a type of self-executing custody provision not covered in that article, this brief addendum on the matter seems warranted.
In White v. Fana,...
A prior article discussed the domestic relations cases and issues which may be appealed as of right and those which require appellate application and approval. That article in part addressed a two-part evaluation – established by state Supreme Court decisions – to determine whether an appealed or...