Court Opinion

ID: 9959587
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-12 13:03:27.02441+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:17:34.749638
License: Public Domain

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

                                         ATLANTA,____________________
                                                  April 12, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A1266. CAROLYN CORDELIA MILES v. RENEE HARDY.

      This case concerns the Estate of Pauline Martin. In October 2019, Vera Jacobs
filed a petition for temporary letters of administration in probate court, alleging that
Martin had died without a will. The following month, Carolyn Miles filed a competing
petition to probate a will in solemn form, alleging that Martin had left a will. In March
2023, the probate court denied Miles’s petition and declared the proffered will invalid.
Miles appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, which transferred the matter here. We
dismissed the appeal as interlocutory because Jacobs and Renee Hardy had filed a new
petition in probate court for letters of administration, and there was no indication that
the administration of Martin’s estate had concluded. See Case No. A24A0451 (Oct.
23, 2023).
      Back in the probate court, in November 2023, Miles filed a document that,
although titled “Motion for Certificate of Immediate Review,” indicated her wish to
appeal the probate court’s March 2023 order to this Court. See OCGA § 5-6-37
(setting forth the requirements for a valid notice of appeal). Miles also filed two
petitions asking the probate court to issue a certificate of immediate review as to its
March 2023 order.1 The court neither ruled on these petitions nor issued any
certificate of immediate review. Instead, it stayed the probate court proceedings

      1
        Additionally, Miles filed a “Motion for a New Trial/Hearing” seeking to set
aside the court’s March 2023 order. The probate court treated this filing as an
extraordinary motion for new trial and denied it. None of Miles’s filings indicate that
she wishes to appeal that ruling.
pending resolution of this appeal. The probate court then transmitted the record to
this Court. We lack jurisdiction for two reasons.
      First, as with Miles’s prior appeal, the record indicates that no final order has
been entered and that the probate case is ongoing. In particular, it appears that the
petition filed by Hardy and Jacobs remains pending below. Under these
circumstances, Miles was required to use the interlocutory appeal procedures —
including obtaining a timely certificate of immediate review from the probate court —
to appeal the March 2023 order, and her failure to do so deprives us of jurisdiction
over this appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (b); In re Estate of Reece, 360 Ga. App. 364, 365-
366 (861 SE2d 169) (2021).
      Second, even if the case were now final, Miles’s notice of appeal is untimely.
A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of entry of an appealable order. OCGA
§ 5-6-38 (a). “The proper and timely filing of the notice of appeal is an absolute
requirement to confer jurisdiction upon the appellate court.” Perry v. Paul Hastings,
LLP, 362 Ga. App. 140, 141 (866 SE2d 855) (2021) (citation and punctuation
omitted). Here, Miles filed her November 2023 document indicating her wish to
appeal approximately eight months after entry of the March 2023 order she wants to
appeal.
      For these reasons, we lack jurisdiction over this appeal, which is hereby
DISMISSED.

                                       Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
                                         Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
                                                                     04/12/2024
                                                  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.