Matthew Steven Chandler v. Timothy Stewart Rohner

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,__________________ July 01, 2014

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A14D0393. MATTHEW STEVEN CHANDLER v. TIMOTHY STEWART ROHNER.

Timothy Stewart Rohner filed a petition to adopt the biological children of Matthew Steven Chandler.1 The trial court entered a final judgment and decree of adoption, and Chandler filed this application for discretionary appeal. Final orders of adoption may be appealed directly under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (1). See Numanovic v. Jones, 321 Ga. App. 763 (743 SE2d 450) (2013); Rokowski v. Gilbert, 275 Ga. App. 305 (1) (620 SE2d 509) (2005). This Court will grant an otherwise timely discretionary application if the lower court’s order is directly appealable and the applicant has not already filed a notice of appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED. Chandler shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court. If, however, he has already filed a notice of appeal, he need not file a second notice. The clerk of the trial court is DIRECTED to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to the Court of Appeals.

1 The trial court denied Chandler’s petition to legitimate the children, and we granted Chandler’s application for discretionary appeal from this ruling. That appeal is pending before us as Case Number A14A1850.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 07/01/2014 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,__________________ I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.