Paul Latham v. Dawn C. Alvan

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

October 10, 2012 ATLANTA,__________________

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A13D0065. PAUL LATHAM v. DAWN C. ALVAN.

Paul Latham seeks discretionary review of the trial court’s “Final Order on Motions for Contempt and for Modification of Child Support.” In its order, the trial court denied Latham’s petition for change of custody and for joint custody and modified Latham’s child support payment. Pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (11), “[a]ll judgments or orders in child custody cases including . . . awarding or refusing to change child custody” are directly appealable. A party seeking to challenge a child custody order, therefore, may file a direct appeal. See Cohen v. Cohen, 300 Ga. App. 7, 8 (1) (684 SE2d 94) (2009); Taylor v. Curl, 298 Ga. App. 45 (679 SE2d 80) (2009). We 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, this application is hereby GRANTED. Latham shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court. If, however, he has already filed a notice of appeal, he need not file a second notice. 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 10/10/2012 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.