Stanley P. Houghton v. Joan N. Houghton

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ October 19, 2016

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A17D0104. STANLEY P. HOUGHTON v. JOAN N. HOUGHTON.

Stanley Houghton and Joan Houghton were divorced in April of 1991. As a part of their divorce, the parties entered into a consent judgment, which gave Joan Houghton the unilateral right to sell certain property. When Joan Houghton attempted to sell the property in 2015, Stanley Houghton prevented her from enforcing her right. Joan Houghton filed a petition for contempt and sought attorneys’ fees pursuant to OCGA § 9-15-14, which the trial court awarded. Stanley Houghton then filed an application for discretionary appeal in this court. We, however, lack jurisdiction. The Georgia Supreme Court has jurisdiction over all divorce and alimony cases, including those cases ancillary to the divorce proceedings. See Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. III (6); Morris v. Surges, 284 Ga. 748, 750 (2) (670 SE2d 84) (2008). See also Iannicelli v. Iannicelli, 169 Ga. App. 155 (1) (311 SE2d 850) (1983) (“an application for contempt to enforce the divorce decree is ancillary to, and an incident of, the divorce action, and jurisdiction to hear an appeal of this nature is in the Supreme Court.”) (punctuation omitted). As the underlying subject matter of this application is divorce, it is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 10/19/2016 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ I certi fy that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my si gnature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.