Law Office of Tony Center v. Baker, 75730
Decision Date | 27 January 1988 |
Docket Number | No. 75730,75730 |
Citation | 366 S.E.2d 167,185 Ga.App. 809 |
Parties | LAW OFFICE OF TONY CENTER v. BAKER et al. |
Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Tony Center, Atlanta, pro se.
Sherri Baker, pro se.
Harry B. White, G. Carey Nelson III, Cartersville, for appellee.
This is an appeal pursuant to a grant by this court of an application for discretionary appeal. Tony Center was retained by Sherri Baker to represent her in a divorce action. The final decree included, inter alia, $250 per month for each of two children as "child support," payable to the Clerk of the Superior Court of Bartow County. Following the divorce, a disagreement arose between Ms. Baker and Center regarding payment of his fee. Center filed an "Attorney's Lien" with the court, claiming an amount due of $2,809.08, with accruing monthly interest of $40.75. Thereafter he filed a "Motion to Enforce Attorney's Lien" against "funds received by the clerk of the court" to be distributed to Baker, i.e., the "child support." Center claims "[a]n attorney's lien is superior to all liens except taxes and attaches to the fruits of labor and skill of the attorney...." The trial court denied the motion "to the extent counsel seeks to foreclose against child support." Appellant applied for and was granted interlocutory review of the trial court's order. Held:
At issue is whether an attorney's lien can attach to child support payments. There are two types of attorney's liens, a general or possessory lien, and a special or charging lien. See generally 7A CJS 707, Atty. & Client Chap. X. The general, or possessory, lien is the right of the attorney to retain possession of all money or other property of his client coming into his hands professionally, until the amount due him for his professional services is paid. 7A CJS at 711. A special, or charging, lien is the equitable right of the attorney to recover his fees and costs due him for his services, and may be satisfied out of the judgment obtained by his professional services. 7A CJS at 713. In Georgia, OCGA § 15-19-14 authorizes attorney's liens--subsection (a) the possessory lien, and subsection (b) the charging lien. The remaining provisions address the lien's priority and the method of enforcement.
"Lien laws are to be strictly construed, and one who claims a lien must bring himself clearly within the law." White v. Aiken, 197 Ga. 29, 33, 28 S.E.2d 263 (1943). " May v. May, 180 Ga.App. 581, 582, 349 S.E.2d 766 (1986); accord Woodward v. Lawson, 225 Ga. 261, 262, 167 S.E.2d 660 (1961). Hence, although the "child support" in the hands of the Clerk represents funds which are the fruit of the labor of the attorney, are they such "funds" to which an attorney's lien may attach?
"Child support," denominated alimony (OCGA § 19-6-19(a)), occupies a special niche in our law. Stewart v. Stewart, 217 Ga. 509, 510, 123 S.E.2d 547 (1962). Is the clerk of the court in a different category, or exempt classification from that of a trustee of the funds for support of the child? We hold it is not.
In Keefer v. Keefer, 140 Ga. 18, 78 S.E. 462, the Supreme Court was discussing collection of attorney fees in a divorce action and the application of an attorney's lien to the judgment and opined that 140 Ga. at 25, 78 S.E. 462. Thus, in that instance the Supreme Court refused to apply an attorney's lien to "alimony." Then, in Thomas v. Holt, 209 Ga. 133, 134, 70 S.E.2d 595 (1952), the court combined the "trust" nature of child support with a claim for attorney fees and found: Hence, sums representing child support are held in trust by intervening parties and the party holding such child support payments cannot consent, in...
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