Tomlinson v. State, A89A1687
| Decision Date | 06 October 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. A89A1687,A89A1687 |
| Citation | 193 Ga.App. 123,387 S.E.2d 49 |
| Parties | TOMLINSON v. STATE of Georgia. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Griner & Alderman, Elsie H. Griner, Galen P. Alderman, Nashville, for appellant.
Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., William C. Joy, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., William M. Droze, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
The appellee filed a Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support action against the appellant seeking to hold him liable for the support of Emily Dawn Hughes, a minor child. A jury entered verdict in the appellee's favor, requiring the appellant to pay $160 per month as child support, to provide an accident and sickness insurance policy covering the child, and to maintain a life insurance policy on his own life in the amount of $25,000 with the child as beneficiary. We granted a discretionary appeal from the judgment entered on this verdict in order to consider the appellant's contention that the court exceeded its authority in ordering him to maintain the life insurance policy. Held:
1. In Clavin v. Clavin, 238 Ga. 421, 423-4, 233 S.E.2d 151 (1977), the Georgia Supreme Court held that, notwithstanding the strong public policy favoring support of minor children by the father's estate after his death, "a father is not required by law to create an estate for his minor children," and that a provision in a divorce decree requiring him to provide a life insurance policy for the benefit of a minor child is consequently invalid unless he has agreed to it. However, in Ritchea v. Ritchea, 244 Ga. 476(2), 260 S.E.2d 871 (1979), the Court subsequently upheld a verdict in a divorce case requiring the husband to maintain, as an element of alimony, a life insurance policy for the benefit of his wife. In Coker v. Coker, 251 Ga. 542, 543, 307 S.E.2d 921 (1983), the court recognized the apparent conflict in these two decisions but declined to resolve it, holding instead that, under the circumstances of that case, "even if the trial judge made, in effect, a mistake of law by including the life-insurance provision into the divorce decree, this does not constitute a ground for setting aside the decree." In support of that holding, the Court cited Todd v. Dekle, 240 Ga. 842, 242 S.E.2d 613 (1978), wherein it had held that "[a] complaint seeking to set aside a judgment on the ground that it resulted from a contested decisional error of a court fails to state a claim upon which ... relief can be granted." Id. at 844, 242 S.E.2d 613.
It appears from an examination of the transcript in the present case that the appellant failed to object at trial either to the jury's inclusion of the life insurance provision in its verdict or to the court's charge authorizing the imposition of such a requirement. It is reasonable to assume that the jurors took the cost of this requirement into consideration in...
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Knisely v. Gasser, s. A90A1906
...unnecessary to reach the merits of [plaintiffs' contentions]." Ray v. Stinson, 254 Ga. 375, 329 S.E.2d 502. See Tomlinson v. State of Ga., 193 Ga.App. 123(1), 124, 387 S.E.2d 49. Case No. 2. Defendants first contend, in their cross-appeal, that the trial court erred in "denying [their] moti......
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Gardner v. Gardner, S94A0222
...[and] we hold it invalid." Clavin v. Clavin, supra, 238 Ga. at 424, 233 S.E.2d 151. To the extent that Tomlinson v. State of Ga., 193 Ga.App. 123, 124(1), 387 S.E.2d 49 (1989) is inconsistent with our instant holding, it is hereby overruled. Coker v. Coker, 251 Ga. 542, 543, 307 S.E.2d 921 ......
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