Sample v. Poteralski, 66958
| Citation | 169 Ga.App. 448,313 S.E.2d 145 |
| Decision Date | 05 January 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 66958,66958 |
| Parties | SAMPLE v. POTERALSKI. |
| Court | United States Court of Appeals (Georgia) |
George M. Hubbard III, Savannah, for appellant.
Adam P. Cerbone, Thomas M. Cerbone, Savannah, for appellee.
This appeal arises from a garnishment filed by appellee on January 5, 1982 seeking enforcement of a judgment for child support as set forth in a divorce decree entered on December 28, 1978. Under the decree, appellee was awarded custody of the minor child of the parties and appellant was ordered to pay $30.00 per week as child support. Subsequently upon appellee's application, appellant was found in contempt for failure to pay such child support and was found to be in arrears on August 16, 1979 in the amount of $590.00. By order of August 17, 1979 appellant was ordered to purge himself of the contempt; this he failed to do.
In the interim, appellee remarried and her husband filed a petition to adopt the minor child which culminated in a final order of adoption on October 19, 1981. Pursuant to the adoption proceeding, appellant's parental rights were terminated based upon his failure to pay child support for twelve months immediately prior to the filing of the petition. As of the date of the final order of adoption, appellant's arrearages in child support plus attorney fees totaled $3,725.00.
On December 30, 1981 appellee filed this garnishment proceeding naming Union Camp Corporation as garnishee. Appellant filed a traverse to such garnishment which was denied by the trial court.
Appellant appeals from the order denying his traverse to the garnishment contending that the final order of adoption entered on October 19, 1981 extinguished his past and future obligations for payment of child support. This argument is based on the statute explaining the effect of a decree of adoption, OCGA § 19-8-14 (Code Ann. § 74-413), which provides in subsection (a)(1): "Except with respect to a spouse of the petitioner and relatives of the spouse, a decree of adoption relieves the natural parent(s) of the adopted individual of all parental rights and responsibilities and terminates all legal relationships between the adopted individual and his relatives, including his natural parent(s), so that the adopted individual thereafter is a stranger to his former relatives for all purposes, including inheritance and the interpretation or construction of documents, statutes, and instruments, whether executed before or after the...
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Kranz v. Kranz
...support that accrued prior to the entry of the decree); Napier v. Kilgore, 284 S.C. 313, 326 S.E.2d 171 (1985); Sample v. Poteralski, 169 Ga.App. 448, 313 S.E.2d 145 (1984). Other states have reached the same result, but in the context of somewhat different statutory provisions. Michels v. ......
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Marriage of Murray, In re
... ... Accord Sample v. Poteralski, 169 Ga.App. 448, 313 S.E.2d ... 145 (1984); Napier v. Kilgore, 284 S.C. 313, 326 ... ...
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Napier v. Kilgore, 0383
...has held that accrued child support arrearages are due and owing and are not eradicated by an adoption decree. Sample v. Poteralski, 169 Ga.App. 448, 313 S.E.2d 145 (1984). See also Fleming v. Fleming, 49 N.C.App. 345, 271 S.E.2d 584 (1980), citing, Adair v. Superior Court of Maricopa Count......
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Stambaugh v. Child Support Enforcement Admin.
...168 W.Va. 480, 284 S.E.2d 907, 911 (1981); In re Marriage of Murray, 790 P.2d 868, 869 (Colo.App.1989); Sample v. Poteralski, 169 Ga.App. 448, 313 S.E.2d 145 (1984); C. v. R., 169 N.J.Super. 168, 404 A.2d 366, 369 (1979); Napier v. Kilgore, 284 S.C. 313, 326 S.E.2d 171 (App.1985). III. The ......