Grubbs v. Dowse, 26025
| Decision Date | 08 October 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 26025,26025 |
| Citation | 177 S.E.2d 237,226 Ga. 763 |
| Parties | Pike E. GRUBBS v. Betty R. Grubbs DOWSE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Ed G. Barham, Valdosta, for appellant.
Coleman, Blackburn, Kitchens & Bright, J. Converse Bright, Valdosta, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
Pike E. Grubbs and Betty R. Grubbs were divorced in 1961. The divorce decree granted the wife, now Betty R. Grubbs Dowse, custody of the couple's daughter 'with the right of the (husband) to visit his minor daughter at reasonable and convenient times.' The wife still resides in Lowndes County, Georgia, while the husband, an officer in the United States Air Force, is now stationed in Oregon.
The present petition was filed by the husband and seeks to have the child visit him two months during each summer in Oregon. Held:
It is immaterial what nomenclature is placed on the pleadings by the husband since as was held in Daugherty v. Murphy, 225 Ga. 588, 170 S.E.2d 428:
While the marital status of each parent has changed since the divorce decree was rendered, the husband's residence has changed so that he now resides some 3,500 miles from the child, and the child is nine years older, yet none of these changes is a change of circumstances affecting the welfare of the child which would demand, if indeed it would authorize, a change in the custody of the child. The trial court did not err in refusing the relief sought by the husband.
Judgment affirmed.
All the Justices concur.
I concur in the judgment because the petition was not brought on the theory that it would be for the best interest of the child for it to be allowed to visit the father for at least two months during each summer. If the evidence authorizes the court to conclude, in a case based on the best interests of the child, that it would be in the best interest of the child for it to visit the father, where the parties reside great distances apart and the ordinary visitation rights are not practical, the law should be, in my opinion, that the court, on a proper showing, should have the power and authority to change the custody and visitation provisions of the original decree,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Bodne v. Bodne
...has a prima facie right to retain custody ..." are the following: Moore v. Wiggins, 230 Ga. 51, 195 S.E.2d 404 (1973); Grubbs v. Dowse, 226 Ga. 763, 177 S.E.2d 237 (1970); Mercer v. Foster, supra (cited in Scott, supra); Lewis v. Lewis, 252 Ga.App. 539(2), 557 S.E.2d 40 (2001); Daniel v. Da......
-
Atkins v. Bituminous Cas. Corp., 45876
...referring to the effect of the prior judgment as being that of res judicata instead of estoppel by judgment is immaterial. Grubbs v. Dowse, 226 Ga. 763, 177 S.E.2d 237; Hardy v. George C. Murdock Freight Lines, 99 Ga.App. 459(4), 108 S.E.2d 739; Carmack v. Oglethorpe Company, 117 Ga.App. 66......
-
Ofchus v. Isom
...based solely on a custodial parent's relocation to another state. Moore v. Wiggins, 230 Ga. 51, 53(1), 55, 195 S.E.2d 404; Grubbs v. Dowse, 226 Ga. 763, 177 S.E.2d 237; Hirsh v. Dobb, 224 Ga. 130, 134(3)(b), 160 S.E.2d 386; Mercer v. Foster, 210 Ga. 546, 548(3), 81 S.E.2d 458; In the Intere......
- Tant v. State, s. 26023
-
Domestic Relations - Barry B. Mcgough and Gregory R. Miller
...241 Ga. App. 109, 522 S.E.2d 772 (1999); Holt v. Leiter, 232 Ga. App. 376, 501 S.E.2d 879 (1998); Grubbs v. Dowse, 226 Ga. App. 763, 177 S.E.2d 237 (1970); Mercer v. Foster, 210 Ga. App. 546, 81 S.E.2d 458 (1954). 55. Bodne, 277 Ga. at 445, 588 S.E.2d at 728-29. 56. Id. at 446, 588 S.E.2d a......