The trial court in this custody case found the child’s mother in contempt and changed custody from the mother to the father. The court also ordered that any visitation by the mother must be “supervised, described, and by court order,” and terminated the father’s obligation to pay the mother child support. Because the mother was not properly served, and because the trial court improperly combined a contempt motion with a change of custody motion, we reverse. Norbert Moemeka initiated these proceedings against Befaithful Coker on June 10, 2009, with a pleading titled “emergency petition to restrain mother from moving child out of state for the second time; to modify visitation; to modify child support; and offer of father to take child should mother wish to go to school in another state.” In the pleading, Moemeka alleged that Coker’s house had burned down and he did not know her current address, although she had directed him to continue mailing his child support payments to her at the old address. He further alleged that he was not being allowed to visit their minor child, and that Coker had told him that she and the child were going to move out of state. He sought to have Coker restrained from moving out of state and requested that he be awarded physically custody of the child if she did so. He also sought Coker’s current address and wanted his child support re-evaluated. The record includes a certificate of service verifying that Moemeka mailed a copy of the pleading to Coker at Doe Trot Trail in Douglasville, Georgia.
The record contains a “Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Civil Process Activity Report” dated July 2, 2009; under “Final Status” is hand-written “house burnt sic down.” On August 18, 2009, Moemeka moved for an order for service by publication, averring in an attached affidavit signed by his counsel that “diligent search has been made,” that the petitioner attempted service at the only address he had, and that he had checked “telephone information and directories.” On August 21, 2009, the trial court signed an order for service by publication, and on September 23, 2009, the superior court clerk filed a notice of publication to Coker. The notice states that on June 10, 2009, Moemeka “filed suit against you for Contempt of Court regarding visitation and the whereabouts of his legitimized son,” and directed Coker to file an answer in writing within 60 days of the date of the order of publication. In a letter to the clerk included in the record, Moemeka’s counsel asks the clerk to forward a stamped copy of the order for publication and the notice of publication to the county’s newspaper of record.
