Carla Bashir v. Lillian Bashir

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: April 10, 2023
• Docket: A23A1210
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ April 10, 2023

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A23A1210. CARLA BASHIR v. LILLIAN BASHIR.

Hassan and Lillian Bashir were divorced in 1994 and, pursuant to their divorce decree, their jointly-owned house was to be sold. Instead of selling the house, Hassan conveyed his interest in the property to his second wife, Carla Bashir. In 2020, Lillian filed a declaratory judgment against Carla, seeking to enforce the 1994 divorce decree and force the sale of the house. On May 9, 2022, the trial court granted Lillian’s motion for summary judgment and ordered the sale of the house. On May 11, 2022, Carla filed a motion for reconsideration, which the court denied on June 14, 2022. On June 21, 2022, Carla, proceeding pro se, filed this appeal.1 Pretermitting whether this is a domestic relations case such that Carla was required to file an application for discretionary review under OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (2), this appeal is untimely. A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the entry of the appealable decision. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). “The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction upon an appellate court.” Perlman v. Perlman, 318 Ga. App. 731, 739 (4) (734 SE2d 560) (2012) (citation and punctuation omitted). Carla’s failure to file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the entry of the superior court’s order granting summary judgment deprives us of jurisdiction. Although Carla filed the appeal within 30 days of the order denying the motion for reconsideration, the denial of such a motion is not a directly appealable

1 This appeal was initially filed with the Georgia Supreme Court, which found no basis for its jurisdiction and transferred the case to this Court. See Case No. S23A0553 (Feb. 21, 2023). judgment and the filing of such a motion does not toll the time for filing a direct appeal. See Ferguson v. Freeman, 282 Ga. 180, 181 (1) (646 SE2d 65) (2007); Bell v. Cohran, 244 Ga. App. 510, 510 (536 SE2d 187) (2000). For the above reasons, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 04/10/2023 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.