Georgia Court of Appeals, 2012

Booker v. Georgia Department of Human Resources

Georgia Court of Appeals · Decided August 14, 2012 · McFadden

317 Ga. App. 426; 731 S.E.2d 110; 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 2648; 2012 WL 3290015; 2012 Ga. App. LEXIS 723

Cases that cite this one

66 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

Curtis Farmer v. Georgia Department of Human Services, Ex Rel., Jaylen M. Farmer (Ga. Ct. App. 2016)
Rashad Ali v. Georgia Department of Human Resources Ex. Rel., J. K. A. (Ga. Ct. App. 2016)
Kevin Harris v. Georgia Department of Human Resources, Ex. Rel., Kasai Dane Harris (Ga. Ct. App. 2015)
Samuel Jones v. Georgia Department of Human Services (Ga. Ct. App. 2014)
Samuel Jones v. Georgia Department of Human Services (Ga. Ct. App. 2014)
TYRONE ERIC TAYLOR-SHORTER v. HOWARD E. MCCLAIN (Ga. Ct. App. 2026)
AUSTIN DENNIS BOOKER v. THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Ex. Rel., AUTUMN BALDWIN (Ga. Ct. App. 2025)
DARRYL C. WALTERS v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Ex Rel., ROYAL WALTERS (Ga. Ct. App. 2025)
JAMES D. MCKETHAN v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Ex. Rel., JAMYIS HARRIS (Ga. Ct. App. 2025)
Aston Smallwood v. Malisha Boggess (Ga. Ct. App. 2025)
Miesha Morgan v. Darnell Sexton (Ga. Ct. App. 2025)
KENROY KEVON POWELL v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Ex. Rel., AYIESHA BURTON (Ga. Ct. App. 2024)
CHARLIE SHY v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Ex Rel., CAIRO SHY (Ga. Ct. App. 2024)
Danny Hicks, Jr. v. Georgia Department of Human Services, Ex. Rel., Brooklynn Hicks (Ga. Ct. App. 2024)
Courtney Reddix v. Cynthia Nguyen (Ga. Ct. App. 2024)
ZAY MICHAEL BEY F/K/A TAMICHAEL L. FORDHAM v. THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Ex. Rel.,T. F. (CHILDREN) (Ga. Ct. App. 2021)
Li Huang v. John Cirillo (Ga. Ct. App. 2021)
Gege Odion v. Department of Human Services (Ga. Ct. App. 2019)
Caroline G. Wilson v. Georgia Department of Human Services, Ex Rel., K. A. M. (Ga. Ct. App. 2019)
Jimmy Clark v. Toni Brewer (Ga. Ct. App. 2017)
Jimmy Clark v. Toni Brewer (Ga. Ct. App. 2017)
Denise Rochelle Johnson v. Cedric Wesley Johnson (Ga. Ct. App. 2017)
Bilal Abdul Rasheed v. Nadia El Badaoui (Ga. Ct. App. 2017)
Joshua Wright v. Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Child Support Services (Ga. Ct. App. 2015)
Dontaze M. Armstead v. Amanda Nicole Parmer (Ga. Ct. App. 2015)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

McFadden, Judge.

Pursuant to a request filed by the Georgia Department of Human Resources, the trial court held that Serbrena Booker’s son was emancipated because he had reached the age of majority and was not enrolled in and attending a secondary school; thus, the court held, under OCGA § 19-6-15 (e) the son’s father no longer was obligated to pay child support. Because Booker has failed to comply with the discretionary appeal procedures of OCGA § 5-6-35, but instead has filed a direct appeal from this ruling, we must dismiss the appeal.

“OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (2) provides, without exception, that appeals in ‘domestic relations cases’ must be brought by application for discretionary appeal.” Walker v. Estate of May, 279 Ga. 652, 653 (1) *427(619 SE2d 679) (2005). This is a domestic relations case subject to review only by application because its underlying subject matter is a father’s obligation to provide child support for his son. See Camp v. Camp, 247 Ga. 533 (277 SE2d 55) (1981); Davis v. Welch, 205 Ga. App. 462, 463 (422 SE2d 323) (1992). This case falls within OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (2) even though it was initiated by the Department of Human Resources. See Fitzgerald v. Dept. of Human Resources, 231 Ga. App. 129 (497 SE2d 659) (1998) (appeal from order modifying child support obligation in case initiated by Department of Human Resources must be brought as discretionary appeal under OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (2), among other subsections).

Decided August 14, 2012 Serbrena Booker, pro se. Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Mark J. Cicero, Assistant Attorney General, Randy J. Comins, for appellee.

“Compliance with the discretionary appeals procedure is jurisdictional. Therefore, [Booker’s] failure to follow the discretionary appeal procedures of OCGA § 5-6-35 deprives this Court of jurisdiction, and [her] appeal must be dismissed.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Fitzgerald, 231 Ga. App. at 129-130.

Appeal dismissed.

Barnes, P. J., and Adams, J., concur.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.