In Re MCJ

531 S.E.2d 404, 242 Ga. App. 852, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 1542, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 372
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 17, 2000
DocketA98A2296
StatusPublished

This text of 531 S.E.2d 404 (In Re MCJ) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re MCJ, 531 S.E.2d 404, 242 Ga. App. 852, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 1542, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 372 (Ga. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

531 S.E.2d 404 (2000)
242 Ga. App. 852

In the Interest of M.C.J. et al., children.

No. A98A2296.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

March 17, 2000.

*405 Charles E. Day, Monroe, Ann N. Garner, for appellant.

McNally, Edwards, Bailey & Lander, Kenneth J. Lander, Decatur, for appellee.

JOHNSON, Chief Judge.

In September 1997, the mother of then two-year-old M.C.J. and five-month-old R.A.J. petitioned the juvenile court to terminate the parental rights of the children's father, who is serving a fifty-year sentence for four counts of aggravated assault. The juvenile court granted the petition and terminated his parental rights. The father appealed, asserting in one of his enumerations that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction over the *406 case. The guardian ad litem, who had recommended that the father's rights not be terminated, filed a brief asserting the same arguments as the father.

We agreed with the father and reversed the decision of the juvenile court, holding that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to decide the case because it was brought by one parent and was presumptively a custody dispute, jurisdiction over which lies in the superior court. In the Interest of M.C.J., 236 Ga.App. 225(1), 511 S.E.2d 533 (1999); see In the Interest of W.W.W., 213 Ga.App. 732, 445 S.E.2d 832 (1994) (a deprivation case filed between parents is prima facie a custody case and must be brought initially in superior court). The Supreme Court of Georgia granted certiorari to consider the correctness of this court's holdings in In the Interest of M.C.J. and In the Interest of W.W.W.

In In re M.C.J., 271 Ga. 546, 549, 523 S.E.2d 6 (1999), the Supreme Court of Georgia reversed our decision and overruled In the Interest of W.W.W., supra; In the Interest of M.A., 218 Ga.App. 433, 434, 461 S.E.2d 600 (1995) (holding that all deprivation actions between parents are prima facie custody matters which must be brought in superior court); and all other cases relying on In the Interest of W.W.W. and In the Interest of M.A. for the propositions stated above. The Supreme Court held that all juvenile actions brought by one parent against another are not prima facie custody cases and all such actions need not be filed in superior court. In re M.C.J., supra. The Supreme Court explained that the only "custody cases" juvenile courts should not entertain are deprivation proceedings brought by a noncustodial parent to obtain custody from a custodial parent. Id. at 548, 511 S.E.2d 533.

In reversing our decision as to jurisdiction, the Supreme Court remanded the case so that we may consider the remaining substantive issues in the case. The remaining issues are: whether the children are deprived when they are well cared for by the mother and her family; whether termination is in the best interests of the children; and whether the trial court erred in basing its decision on the opinion of a psychologist who did not examine the children.

The parents of M.C.J. and R.A.J. met in 1994 but never married. M.C.J. was born in June 1995, and R.A.J. was born in February 1997. Both children have lived with the mother and her parents in the grandparents' home since birth. The father saw M.C.J. several times per week during the first two months of the child's life but did not help care for the child much during the visits. The father would become "extremely aggravated" when M.C.J. needed changing or was hungry and would pass the child to the mother if the infant was not calm within a few minutes. He cared for the child by himself on one occasion. From February 1996 until the father's incarceration in July 1996, the father saw M.C.J. about five times. The father has never had any contact with the couple's second child, R.A.J., who was born during his incarceration.

The father never attempted to legitimate the children. He has paid about $1,300 in child support since the children were born. He has paid no child support while in prison, despite having a jail account with funds available. While in prison, he admitted to the mother that he had regularly used cocaine.

In the winter of 1995, while the mother was pregnant with M.C.J., the father backed her against a wall and pounded the wall around her face with his fists as she cried and as his mother tried to stop him. In May 1995, the father became angry with the mother while she was driving and punched her car windshield, shattering the glass. She was eight months pregnant at the time.

In late 1995, the father hit the mother in the face. As she tried to hide her face from him, he yanked her hair repeatedly. In June 1996, while the mother was pregnant with their second child, the father slapped her. One-year-old M.C.J. was in the bathroom with them during the incident.

Between the time the mother became pregnant with M.C.J. in 1994 and the time of M.C.J.'s birth in 1995, the father was convicted of seven crimes, including two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, possession of alcohol by a minor, hunting out of season, hunting from a motor vehicle, hunting *407 from a public road, and hunting deer at night.

The children's maternal grandfather assisted the father in various ways, such as helping him get his driver's license reinstated, but the father lost the license again after getting another DUI conviction. The grandfather also helped him get a job and co-signed on a car loan so he would have transportation to and from work. However, the father defaulted on the note, and when the grandfather paid the arrearage, the father repaid him with a bad check. The father also made unauthorized charges on the grandfather's charge account.

In early 1996, the father was charged with DUI, possession of alcohol by a minor, driving on the wrong side of the road, driving with an open container of alcohol, and speeding. A few months later, the father was charged with murder and five counts of aggravated assault. The circumstances surrounding this incident are not clear from the record before us, although the incident involved a fatal shooting after a party. The father was acquitted of murder and one of the aggravated assault charges but was convicted of four counts of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to 50 years, with the first 40 to be served in confinement and the remainder to be served on probation. After the father was sentenced on the aggravated assault convictions, the state decided not to prosecute the traffic charges brought earlier in the year.

While in prison, the father has been disciplined for fighting and possessing razor blades, a knife, a lighter, and cigarettes. He testified that he completed his GED requirements while in prison and is on a waiting list to undergo treatment for alcohol abuse. He will be eligible for parole in 2010.

1. The father contends the juvenile court erred in finding the children deprived within the meaning of OCGA § 15-11-2(8) when the evidence shows they are well cared for by their mother and other relatives.

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Bluebook (online)
531 S.E.2d 404, 242 Ga. App. 852, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 1542, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mcj-gactapp-2000.