IN RE MCJ, A98A2296.
| Decision Date | 21 January 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. A98A2296.,A98A2296. |
| Citation | 511 S.E.2d 533,236 Ga. App. 225 |
| Parties | In the Interest of M.C.J. et al., children. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Charles E. Day, Monroe, Ann N. Garner, for appellant.
McNally, Edwards, Bailey & Lander, Kenneth J. Lander, Decatur, for appellees.
The mother of M.C.J. and R.A.J. filed a petition in juvenile court to terminate the parental rights of the children's biological father. The mother has physical custody of the children, and the father recently began serving a 40-year prison sentence in connection with the shooting of a man.
In her petition, the mother alleges that the children are deprived because of the father's misconduct or inability. She requests, among other things, that the children be placed in her permanent custody. After a hearing, the juvenile court entered an order terminating the father's parental rights. The father filed a notice of appeal from the judgment. He and the children's guardian ad litem filed separate but nearly identical enumerations of error and briefs.
1. The father and guardian ad litem argue that the juvenile court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the petition. We agree that the mother was required to file the case in superior court and therefore vacate the juvenile court's judgment.
In Lewis v. Winzenreid, 263 Ga. 459, 435 S.E.2d 602 (1993), the Supreme Court held that the juvenile courts of this state should not entertain deprivation proceedings brought between parents to obtain custody. Thereafter, this Court has interpreted Lewis as meaning (Citations and punctuation omitted; emphasis in original.) In the Interest of W.W.W., 213 Ga.App. 732, 734, 445 S.E.2d 832 (1994).
This Court reached the same result in In the Interest of M.A., 218 Ga.App. 433, 434, 461 S.E.2d 600 (1995), where we stated that all deprivation proceedings between parents must be brought in superior court; only the superior court may decide that a deprivation proceeding between parents is not a custody dispute.
We recognize that Lewis and In the Interest of W.W. W., unlike this case, involve non-custodial parents...
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In re MCJ
...832 (1994), which holds that when a deprivation action is between parents, it is prima facie a custody matter. In the Interest of M.C.J., 236 Ga.App. 225(1), 511 S.E.2d 533 (1999). Accordingly, the Court of Appeals held that such cases must be filed in the superior court, which must then tr......
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In re MCJ
...by one parent and was presumptively a custody dispute, jurisdiction over which lies in the superior court. In the Interest of M.C.J., 236 Ga.App. 225(1), 511 S.E.2d 533 (1999); see In the Interest of W.W.W., 213 Ga.App. 732, 445 S.E.2d 832 (1994) (a deprivation case filed between parents is......
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IN THE INTEREST OF MM, A99A1161.
...and we therefore vacate the judgment of the juvenile court. This case is controlled by the recent decision of In the Interest of M.C.J., 236 Ga.App. 225, 511 S.E.2d 533 (1999). There, as here, the mother had physical custody of the children and filed a termination petition against the biolo......