Student Name: Alissa
Wolff
Link for opinion: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-court-of-appeals/1700211.html
Title: Court of
Appeals of Georgia: Slay v. Calhoun
(Child Custody case A15A0612)
The Court of Appeals
of Georgia held that in Slay v. Calhoun,
332 Ga. App. 335 (Ga. Ct. App. 2015) the mother, who resides in Florida, was not
awarded custody of her daughter K.C.
Custody of K.C. was given to K.C’s father Justin Calhoun, who resides in
Georgia.
Calhoun filed a petition for Legitimation, Custody,
Child Support and Visitation (the “Petition”) with the petition for Instanter
Custody on April 16, 2013. The Petition
was against April Slay to legitimate and obtain joint legal and primary
physical custody of K.C., the daughter of Calhoun and Slay. The petition for Instanter Custody that was
filed with the Petition was to seek immediate custody of K.C. because Calhoun
feared for the safety, health, and welfare of his daughter if she were to stay
in the custody of Slay.
Joint custody was awarded with Calhoun given primary
custody of K.C. and Slay given visitation rights. Slay argued that the court lacked subject
matter jurisdiction over the issue because she resided in Florida.
Temporary custody was awarded to Calhoun. On April 30, 2013, the court addressed the
issues of legitimation and temporary custody in a temporary order. In the temporary order, the Juvenile Court of
Muscogee County was ordered to investigate for the best interest of the child
and for the best interest of permanent custody.
The temporary order concluded that the court had “jurisdiction over the
parties and the subject matter of the action.”
Slay and K.C. moved to Georgia to live with
Calhoun’s mom, after K.C. was born.
Calhoun could not join them right away because he was on probation in
Florida. During a visit to Florida, Slay
phoned Calhoun telling him that she and K.C. would not be returning to
Georgia. Calhoun and Slay worked out a
visitation agreement to keep K.C. for two-week periods, meeting in Dothan,
Alabama to pick up or drop off the child.
Often, Slay would call to have Calhoun or his parents come pick her up a
week early because she couldn’t care for K.C.
Her reasoning was because she wasn’t living in a stable household. She was staying with her mother, friends,
brother, and/or boyfriend. Her boyfriend
often kicked her out.
Calhoun obtained healthcare for K.C. in Georgia
under Medicaid and PeachCare. Slay
stated that she once took K.C. to the emergency room for an ear infection. K.C. had her two-year checkup in Georgia in
February of 2013.
Slay argues that the court did not have subject
matter jurisdiction over the issue because Georgia was not the home state of
the child. There was no error found the
court’s exercise of jurisdiction.
Georgia Statute OCGA section 19-9-61(a)(1) states “a court in this state
has jurisdiction to make an initial custody determination if this state is the
home state of the child on the date of the commencement of the proceeding, or
was the home state of the child within six months before the commencement of
the proceeding and the child is absent from this state but a parent or person
acting as a parent continues to live in this state.”
In the final trial of the custody battle of K.C.
between Calhoun and Slay, the court determined that Slay frequently called
Calhoun or his parents to come pick up the child because she was unable to care
for her. The court had determined that
K.C. spent more time with Calhoun (in Georgia) than Slay (in Florida) in the
six months before Calhoun filed the petition.
Even though Slay moved to Florida or resided there, the child continued
to live with Calhoun, a person acting as K.C.’s parent, in Georgia. For the purposes of the UCCJEA (Uniform Child
Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act), Georgia was deemed as K.C.’s home
state.
It was concluded that the trial court was not in
error that it had subject matter jurisdiction for the child custody issues
raised in the Petition filed by Justin Calhoun.
The judgement was affirmed. Andrews, Presiding Judge.
Label for the post:
child visitation, child support, parents,
No comments:
Post a Comment