Court Opinion

ID: 9965350
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-05-02 14:05:53.023295+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:24:56.007366
License: Public Domain

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

                                         ATLANTA,____________________
                                                  May 02, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24D0315. JUSTIN D. HAWKINS v. KYYA GALVIN.

      Justin D. Hawkins filed a discretionary application seeking to appeal from the
trial court’s denial of his motion for contempt, amended motion for contempt, and
request for custody modification and attorney fees, based on the denial of visitation
and communication with his child in violation of a permanent parenting plan.
      Under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (11), direct appeals are permitted from “[a]ll
judgments or orders in child custody cases awarding, refusing to change, or modifying
child custody or holding or declining to hold persons in contempt of such child
custody judgment or orders.” Thus, when the issue on appeal pertains to child
custody, the order is directly appealable. See Voyles v. Voyles, 301 Ga. 44, 46-47 (799
SE2d 160) (2017). Because Hawkins seeks to challenge the superior court’s child
custody and contempt rulings, the order here may be appealed directly. See id.
Consequently, the attorney fees ruling is also reviewable. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (d).
      We will grant a 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. Hawkins shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a
notice of appeal with the superior court, if he has not already done so.
      The clerk of the superior 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
                                        Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
                                                                    05/02/2024
                                                 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.