Pursuant to Rule 34, Joseph B. McCarthy Husband filed an application for discretionary appeal, following the trial court’s denial of his motion to set aside a final decree regarding his divorce from Annie J. Ashment-McCarthy Wife. We granted the pro se application and posed the following question: “Did the trial court err in failing to make the findings required to support the deviation from the presumptive amount of child support See OCGA 19-6-15 i; Holloway v. Holloway, 288 Ga. 147 702 SE2d 132 2010.” For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the trial court’s ruling in part and vacate in part.
1. In summary form, the record shows that the parties’ divorce action was brought before the trial court for disposition on March 2, 2012. At that time, both Husband and Wife were represented by counsel. To the extent that there were contested issues, the parties agreed to participate in a pre-trial hearing that was not transcribed. Apparently, the contested issues were argued and resolved at this pre-trial hearing. Following the pre-trial hearing, the financial agreement reached by the parties was read into the record along with the trial court’s decisions on any remaining contested issues regarding custody. Husband and Wife stated under oath that they were in agreement with all financial decisions, and Husband did not object to the trial court’s rulings on custody. At that time, Husband and Wife also agreed to file letter briefs and submit the issue of attorney fees to the trial court’s discretion. Thereafter, Husband fired his counsel, and, before the divorce decree was entered, he began to argue that the parties had not reached an agreement. Wife filed a motion to enforce the agreement and for contempt, and the trial court dealt with all of these matters in the Decree, which was entered on May 22, 2012, granting both the motion to enforce and for contempt and ultimately awarding Wife $2,550 in attorney fees. This award related only to Wife’s costs in bringing the motion to enforce. On June 28, 2012, after considering Wife’s letter brief on the issue of attorney fees relating to the general divorce action, the trial court entered an order granting Wife $12,580 in such fees. On July 27, 2012, Husband, still pro se, then filed a motion to set aside the Decree as well as a motion for new trial, and, on September 14, 2012, he filed an amended motion to set aside. Husband’s motion for new trial contained no grounds at all, and his motion to set aside, as amended, contended that the parties never reached a valid agreement and that Wife had defrauded the trial court by misrepresenting her finances. Neither motion argues that the trial court failed to follow the requirements of OCGA § 19-6-15. The trial court denied these motions on January 17, 2013, and this appeal ensued.
