Michelle Denise Manigo v. Connie Larnell Hawkins

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ January 24, 2018

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A18D0270. MICHELLE DENISE MANIGO v. CONNIE LARNELL HAWKINS.

In 2013, Michelle Denise Manigo and Connie Larnell Hawkins were divorced and awarded joint legal and physical custody of their minor children. On December 7, 2017, the trial court modified the consent parenting plan, awarding Hawkins primary physical custody of the minor children. Manigo filed a document that we construed as an application for discretionary appeal. However, pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (11), direct appeals are permitted from “[a]ll judgments or orders in child custody cases awarding, refusing to change, or modifying child custody.” Thus, when the issue on appeal pertains to child custody, the order is directly appealable. See Cohen v. Cohen, 300 Ga. App. 7, 8 (1) (684 SE2d 94) (2009); Taylor v. Curl, 298 Ga. App. 45, 45 (679 SE2d 80) (2009). Because Manigo seeks to appeal the trial court’s order modifying custody, the order here may be appealed directly.

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. Manigo shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court. If, however, she has already filed a notice of appeal, she 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.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia C l e r k ’ s O f f i c e , Atlanta,____________________ 01/24/2018 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.