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Morgan v. Howard

The clear and convincing evidence showed that the appellee was the decedent's virtually adopted son.

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Appellant J. Robert Morgan, in his capacity as the administrator of the estate of W. L. Sheffield,1 brings this appeal from the judgment entered on the jury’s verdict finding that appellee Joe Robert Howard is the virtually adopted son of Sheffield. Finding no reversible error, we affirm. 1. Virtual adoption is an equitable remedy utilized when the conduct of the parties creates an implied adoption without a court order. See Crawford v. Wilson , 139 Ga. 654, 658 78 SE 30 1913. An appeal in which the substantive issue involves the legality or propriety of a trial court’s declaration that a certain individual is or is not the virtually adopted child of a decedent, is an action in equity that invokes the jurisdiction of this Court under Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. III 2 in the Georgia Constitution of 1983. To the extent Walden v. Burke , 282 Ga. App. 154 637 SE2d 859 2006 may be read as indicating the contrary, it is hereby disapproved.

2. Appellee’s parents were competent witnesses regarding statements made to them by the decedent prior to July 1, 19792 to prove that the decedent contracted to adopt appellee. Crawford v. Wilson , supra, 139 Ga. at 654 3. Contrary to appellant’s argument, nothing in Willis v. Kennedy , 267 Ga. 165 1 476 SE2d 246 1996 supports a contrary holding inasmuch as the evidence properly excluded as incompetent in that case consisted of testimony by a party to the lawsuit regarding conversations that party sought to relate that involved herself, the deceased and the party’s mother. See id. at fn. 1.

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