Ben F. Christian, Jr. v. Carla Graves Christian

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: January 15, 2015
• Docket: A15D0195
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ January 15, 2015

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A15D0195. BEN F. CHRISTIAN, JR. v. CARLA GRAVES CHRISTIAN.

In this pending divorce proceeding, the trial court entered an order resolving issues of child custody and child support, providing a temporary award of attorney fees in Carla Christian’s favor, and reserving the remaining issues for trial. Ben Christian filed an application for discretionary appeal challenging the attorney fee award.1 We lack jurisdiction. It is clear from the trial court’s order that the case remains pending below, and no final judgment has been entered. Therefore, the order that Christian wishes to appeal is interlocutory in nature. See Scruggs v. Ga. Dept. of Human Resources, 261 Ga. 587, 589 (1) (408 SE2d 103) (1991). A party seeking appellate review from an interlocutory order must follow the interlocutory application procedure set forth in OCGA § 5-6-34 (b), which includes obtaining a certificate of immediate review from the trial court. See Bailey v. Bailey, 266 Ga. 832, 833 (471 SE2d 213) (1996). OCGA § 5-6-35, which governs the discretionary appeal procedure, does not excuse a party seeking appellate review of an interlocutory order from complying with the additional requirements of OCGA § 5-6- 34 (b). See Bailey, supra. Ben Christian’s failure to follow the interlocutory appeal procedure deprives us of jurisdiction over this application, which is therefore DISMISSED.

1 Because the challenged order is interlocutory, this appeal does not fall within the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction over divorce and alimony cases. See Egeland v. Egeland, 279 Ga. 565 (619 SE2d 596) (2005). Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 01/15/2015 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.