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Woodruff v. Choate

The Court had jurisdiction over the appeal, as the order awarding attorney fees disposed of all the claims in the child custody modification action and was thus a final judgment subject to direct appeal; moreover, child custody cases are no longer considered domestic relations cases requiring discretionary review.

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Rita Dawn Woodruff filed a petition for modification of child custody and visitation against her ex-husband, William Choate. The trial court dismissed Woodruff’s petition and awarded attorney fees to Choate. Woodruff appeals, contending that the trial court erred in 1 dismissing sua sponte her petition and 2 awarding Choate attorney fees and expenses of litigation. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand to the trial court.

We review a trial court’s sua sponte order of dismissal de novo. Citation omitted. Haygood v. Head, 305 Ga. App. 375, 377 1 699 SE2d 588 2010. In deciding a motion to dismiss, all pleadings are to be construed most favorably to the party who filed them, and all doubts regarding such pleadings must be resolved in the filing party’s favor. Citation omitted. Scott v. Scott, 311 Ga. App. 726, 727 1 716 SE2d 809 2011.

 
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