In Re: Mi Sook Gassaway, Ward

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: December 5, 2025
• Docket: A26A0845
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ December 05, 2025

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A26A0845. IN RE: MI SOOK GASSAWAY, WARD.

Angie Walker, as personal representative of the Estate of Mi Sook Gassaway, seeks to appeal an order of the Hall County Probate Court denying her request to withdraw an acknowledgment and release. In the order, the probate court also ruled that Gassaway’s former conservator was entitled to compensation, that any party opposing such compensation had 20 days to file an objection, and that if no objection was filed, the conservator must file a detailed accounting within 60 days. We lack jurisdiction over this appeal. An order of the Hall County Probate Court generally may be appealed directly to the Court of Appeals. See OCGA §§ 15-9-123 (a); 15-9-120 (2).1 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 (b) (explaining that the “general laws and rules of appellate practice and procedure . . . shall . . . govern appeals of civil cases from the probate courts”). The order that Walker wishes to appeal was not final, as the issue of the conservator’s compensation remains pending below. Therefore, Walker was required to follow the interlocutory appeal procedures — including obtaining a certificate of

1 According to the 2020 census, Hall County had a population of 203,136. See https://data.census.gov/all?q=hall+county+georgia. immediate review from the probate court — to obtain appellate review at this juncture. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (b); In re Estate of Sims, 246 Ga. App. 451, 452-453 (540 SE2d 650) (2000) (dismissing direct appeal from probate court order because “there ha[d], as yet, been no final accounting of th[e] estate”). Walker’s failure to comply with the interlocutory appeal procedures deprives of us jurisdiction over this premature direct appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 12/05/2025 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.