Triplett v. Elder, 29786
| Decision Date | 22 April 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 29786,29786 |
| Parties | Barbara Louise Andrews Wray TRIPLETT v. Hattie ELDER. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Guy B. Scott, Jr., Athens, for appellant.
Fortson, Bentley & Griffin, J. Edward Allen, Jr., Athens, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
Barbara Andrews Triplett filed a complaint in the nature of habeas corpus against Hattie Elder seeking to obtain custody of her two minor sons.
The evidence shows that the children are now 15 and 11 years of age; that in 1964 while their father was in the armed services, the mother left the children with her grandmother in Athens, Georgia, and went to New York City; that the father was wounded in Viet Nam; that a short time later in 1966 he went to Athens to visit his family; that he brought the children from their maternal great-grandmother's home to the home of his mother, the defendant; that the father died a week afterwards from his wounds; that the complainant mother of the children did not learn of her husband's funeral until its approximate time and returned to Athens two days thereafter; that the mother then asked the defendant for her children but was refused custody; and that the mother left the city. On March 8, 1967, the defendant was appointed guardian of the persons and property of the children. On June 1, 1967, the mother filed a complaint seeking custody of the children; that a hearing was scheduled on June 5, 1967, while the mother was in Athens; that the suit was dismissed by the mother's attorney on that date; that the mother then left Athens and the defendant heard nothing from her for three years. The record shows that from 1970 until the present time the mother had visited the children from time to time with a frequency ranging from once a year to one a month during that period; that during the last three summers, the 15-year-old son has visited his mother for two weeks on three occasions and the 11-year-old son on two occasions; that the 11-year-old son is mentally retarded and is a student in a special school for mentally retarded children in Athens where he has been enrolled for several years; that the 11-year-old son has made substantial improvement as a result of the care and training he has received in the school and in the residence of the defendant; and that a change in the environment and habits of the mentally retarded child would be more detrimental to his progress and to his mental well being than in a normal child. The children did not testify at the hearing. The trial court found that the best...
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Clark v. Wade
...petition, and that it is not bound by the desires and contentions of the biological parents"). 22. See Triplett v. Elder, 234 Ga. 243, 244-245, 215 S.E.2d 247 (1975) (trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that best interests of children would be served by remaining together in......
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M.M.A., In re
...Rivers, 200 Ga. 354, 37 S.E.2d 386 (1946). Ordinarily, the trial court should favor the parent having such a right. Triplett v. Elder, 234 Ga. 243, 215 S.E.2d 247 (1975). The evidence in the instant case does not show that the father's prima facie right to custody has been forfeited under O......
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