Baker v. Nicholson, 61331
| Decision Date | 09 April 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 61331,61331 |
| Citation | 158 Ga.App. 267,279 S.E.2d 717 |
| Parties | BAKER v. NICHOLSON et al. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Thomas J. Killeen, Athens, for appellant.
Thomas E. Shanahan, Calhoun, for appellees.
Adoption proceedings. Baker is the natural father of two minor children. Appellee Lucy Nicholson, the childrens' mother, divorced appellant in June, 1977 and was awarded custody of the children. Appellant was ordered to pay $40 per week for child support. Lucy married Stanley Nicholson in July, 1977. Appellant was arrested in August, 1977 and subsequently plead guilty to multiple counts of burglary. He has been incarcerated in various penal institutions since the date of his arrest.
In August, 1979 appellees filed a petition for adoption, requesting that Stanley Nicholson be permitted to adopt the two minor children. Appellant filed an objection to the adoption, and a hearing was held in January, 1980 after which the trial court terminated appellant's parental rights and granted a final decree of adoption.
Appellant contends that the trial court erred in finding as a matter of law that appellant's consent was not required for the adoption because he had failed to provide for the care and support of his minor children, as required by judicial decree, and because of his failure to make a bona fide attempt to communicate with his children for one year prior to the filing of the adoption petition.
The evidence disclosed that appellant's last child support payment was made in July, 1977, and that appellant was arrested in August, 1977. In February, 1978 appellant provided $200 from his 1977 income tax refund to Lucy Nicholson's father to be used to purchase clothing and gifts for his children. The income tax refund was the only substantial sum of money received by appellant while he was incarcerated. The evidence also disclosed that although appellant did not write or telephone directly to the children or his former wife regarding the children, he communicated with other members of Lucy's family and with his own family about the welfare of the children. The evidence also disclosed that the children were ages five and four years old and were unable to read; that Lucy and Stanley Nicholson had no telephone until a year and a half prior to the hearing on the adoption petition; that appellant had limited access to the telephone for the purpose of making long distance phone calls; and that appellant's children did not know how to use the telephone.
Code Ann. § 74-405(b) provides: "Surrender or termination of parental rights as provided in Code section 74-403 shall not be required as a prerequisite to the filing of a petition for adoption pursuant to subsections (a)(3) or (a)(4) of Code section 74-403 in the case of a parent who has failed significantly for a period of one year or longer immediately prior to the filing of the petition for adoption (1) to communicate, or to make a...
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Kirkland v. Lee
...child within the appropriate time period. Burch, 154 Ga.App. at 300-301, 267 S.E.2d 901, supra. Subsequently, in Baker v. Nicholson, 158 Ga.App. 267, 279 S.E.2d 717 (1981), Burch was interpreted "as holding that the trial court must make a finding of fact that the failure to support or comm......
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In re Adoption of TLC
...financial means available to him, that the parent has not forgotten his statutory obligation to his child. See Baker v. Nicholson, 158 Ga.App. 267, 279 S.E.2d 717 (1981) (overruled on other grounds) (reversing and remanding case for trial court finding that failure to support or communicate......
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Baker v. Nicholson, 62975
...Calhoun, for Nicholson. SOGNIER, Judge. This is the second appearance of this adoption proceeding in our court. In Baker v. Nicholson, 158 Ga.App. 267, 279 S.E.2d 717 (1981), we remanded the case to the trial court for a finding regarding justifiable cause for appellant father's failure to ......
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