Court Opinion

ID: 9566312
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:36:40.48047+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:35:43.867968
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
concurring specially.
The appeal should be reversed but for a different reason. According to the following cases, the order of December 5, 1986, despite its language contemplating its temporary nature, was a final judgment: Draper v. Draper, 170 Ga. App. 727 (318 SE2d 314) (1984); Hancock v. Franks, 162 Ga. App. 691 (293 SE2d 353) (1982); Simpson v. Moon, 238 Ga. 152 (231 SE2d 754) (1977); and the cases cited therein. What governed in those cases and governs in this one is the rule stated in Perry v. Perry, 212 Ga. 668 (1) (95 SE2d 2) (1956): “A judgment fixing the custody of a minor child of divorced parents is a final one on the facts then existing and any attempt by the trial judge to retain jurisdiction of the child is a nullity.” By application in the later cases *764cited above, this rule from Perry, which involved a divorce action, was extended to post-divorce change-of-custody proceedings.
Decided May 15, 1990
Rehearing denied May 29, 1990
Russell & Herrera, Ann J. Herrera, for appellant.
Dean, Setliff & Smith, William T. Dean, Jr., James T. Barfield III, for appellee.
Temporary custody may be awarded pending divorce proceedings. OCGA § 19-9-1.1 Adams v. State, 218 Ga. 130 (126 SE2d 624) (1962), a case quoted by the majority but involving a temporary custody order during a divorce proceeding, explained at pages 131-132 that in such circumstances, “[t]he best interests of the child pending adjudication of the rights of the mother and father are the basis for the award. The parental rights of the parties are not adjudicated by the award of temporary custody. A temporary award of custody differs from a permanent award as the latter is a final adjudication of the rights of the parties on the existing facts, is res judicata, and is subject to change only upon a showing of change of conditions affecting the best interests or the child.”
While a change of custody pending a final full-blown hearing and order in a change of condition case may seem prudent, the upset inherent in shifting the child back and forth from parent to parent is good reason for not allowing it. This policy is strengthened by the wisdom of avoiding protracted hearings and inordinate delays in reaching finality concerning the best interests of the child, who may be adversely affected by the passage of each day (if custody should be changed) and by the uncertainty inherent in temporariness even if the most appropriate custodian is the current one.
Since the order of December 5 was final, the further proceedings and the order of August 9, 1989, were a nullity insofar as custody is concerned, and no appeal on the merits or internal procedural aspects lies. See Ashburn Bank v. Gorday, 189 Ga. App. 565 (377 SE2d 30) (1988), where appeal from a void judgment would not lie. The judgment should be reversed for this reason, with the effect of leaving custody in the mother who was awarded it in December 1986. The father’s remedy was to have appealed from that order or he could have sought change by a new petition. Blalock v. Blalock, 247 Ga. 548 (277 SE2d 655) (1981).

 The limited temporary custody authorization contained in subsection (a) is not at issue.