In Re: Estate of Johnnie Lee Salters

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: June 26, 2025
• Docket: A25A1881
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ June 26, 2025

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A25A1881. IN RE: ESTATE OF JOHNNIE LEE SALTERS, DECEASED.

In 2022, Marcus Salters, who claims to be the decedent’s son, filed a petition for letters of administration in the Chatham County Probate Court. In 2023, in the same lawsuit, Denise Salter filed a caveat to Marcus’s petition and a petition for year’s support. The probate court determined that Denise and the decedent had a common law marriage, and this Court dismissed Marcus’s attempt to appeal from that ruling as interlocutory. See Case No. A25A0394 (Oct. 17, 2024). Back in the probate court, Marcus filed an objection to Denise’s petition for year’s support. The probate court dismissed Marcus’s objection and granted Denise’s petition for year’s support under OCGA § 53-3-7. From that order, Marcus filed this direct appeal. We, however, again lack jurisdiction. As a threshold matter, we note that an order of the Chatham County Probate Court generally may be appealed directly to the Court of Appeals. See OCGA §§ 15-9- 123 (a); 15-9-120 (2). However, the order must be final. See OCGA §§ 5-6-34 (a) (1) (B) (appeals generally may be taken from “[a]ll final judgments, that is to say, where the case is no longer pending in the court below”); 15-9-123 (a) (explaining that the “general laws and rules of appellate practice and procedure . . . shall . . . govern appeals of civil cases from the probate courts”). Here, as indicated in the probate court’s order scheduling a final hearing in this case for July 11, 2025 , the petition to determine heirs which Marcus filed remains pending below. Therefore, Marcus was required to use the interlocutory appeal procedures — including obtaining a certificate of immediate review from the probate court — to obtain review of the order granting the petition for year’s support. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (b); In re Estate of Sims, 246 Ga. App. 451, 452-453 (540 SE2d 650) (2000). Marcus’s failure to comply with the interlocutory appeal procedures deprives us of jurisdiction over this premature direct appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 06/26/2025 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.