In September 2005, the Superior Court of Cobb County modified a child custody and support order, transferring custody of 13-year-old K. J. from his mother, Renee Weil, to his father, Kelly Paseka. The modification order also provided that Weil could have only supervised visitation with K. J. and required her to pay all of the supervision expenses, in addition to child support and other healthcare-related expenses. Weil appeals from the modification order,1 contending the court erred in failing to consider and to make specific findings on the record regarding special circumstances present in this case and in failing to reduce her child support obligation to accommodate for the extra expenses of complying with its order. Weil also challenges the court’s finding that she is an unfit mother. For the following reasons, we vacate the court’s order and remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The record shows the following undisputed facts. When Weil and Paseka divorced in November 2001, they entered into a settlement agreement wherein Weil received custody of their nine-year-old son, K. J. Under the agreement, Paseka paid child support to Weil and had liberal visitation rights with the child. In September 2002, Weil filed a modification petition asking the court to place certain restrictions on Paseka’s visitation with K. J. Paseka filed a counterclaim, asking for physical custody of K. J. In May and June 2005, the court conducted a modification hearing.
Following the hearing, the court issued a written order in which it found that Weil was “unfit” to have custody of or unsupervised visitation with K. J. Based upon this finding, the court gave Paseka sole legal and physical custody of K. J. and restricted Weil to supervised visitation. The order required that at least one visitation per week be supervised by a child psychologist, and required Weil to pay the psychologist’s fees for this supervision. The court also required Weil to get Paseka’s permission before contacting K. J. or attending any events where the child would be present. The court also ordered Weil to pay 20 percent of her gross income in monthly child support, as well as pay for K. J.’s health insurance and for other expenses associated with her supervised visitation and K. J.’s medical and psychological care. In addition, the court’s order stated that no “special circumstances” existed under the state’s child support guidelines, OCGA § 19-6-15 c. Weil appeals from the court’s order.
