Marybeth Shelby Beringer v. Jimmy Richard Emory, Jr

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: November 21, 2012
• Docket: A13D0114
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,__________________ November 21, 2012

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A13D0114. MARYBETH SHELBY BERINGER v. JIMMY RICHARD EMORY, JR.

Marybeth Beringer and Jimmy Emory, Jr. divorced in 2005. Emory filed a petition for contempt based on Beringer’s willful violation of the morality clause and other clauses of the final divorce decree and its subsequent court modification in 2010. The trial court granted the contempt petition, modified the parties’ visitation provisions, and entered an order on attorney fees. Beringer filed an application for discretionary appeal from these orders. OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (11) provides that “[a]ll judgments or orders in child custody cases including, but not limited to, awarding or refusing to change child custody or holding or declining to hold persons in contempt of such child custody judgment or orders” are now directly appealable. See Collins v. Davis, Case No. A12A1445 (1) (decided October 30, 2012). And a child custody proceeding has been defined as “a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue.” OCGA § 19-9-41 (4); see also Edge v. Edge, 290 Ga. 551, 552 (1) (722 SE2d 749) (2012) (actions seeking to change visitation are considered to be child custody cases). Accordingly, the trial court’s orders in this child custody case are directly appealable. This Court will grant an otherwise timely discretionary application if the lower court’s order is subject to direct appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, Beringer’s application is GRANTED. She shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court, if she has not already done so. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (g). The clerk of the trial court is directed to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to the Court of Appeals. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 11/21/2012 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.