Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,__________________ August 07, 2013 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A13D0493. BLAKE F. DOYLE v. ALLISON J. CANNON et al.

Blake Doyle filed this application for discretionary appeal from the trial court’s order denying his petition for legitimation and custody of a child. Under OCGA § 5- 6-34 (a) (11), “[a]ll judgments or orders in child custody cases . . . refusing to change . . . child custody” are directly appealable. We have also held that orders in legitimation cases that involve “the establishment of legal custody over [the] child” are directly appealable under this same statute. See Caldwell v. Meadows, 312 Ga. App. 70, 77 (4) (717 SE2d 668) (2011).

Here, the trial court ruled that the mother of the child intentionally withheld information about the child’s birth from Doyle, intentionally misled Doyle as to the actual paternity of the child, and independently decided to place the child for adoption. Within a month of the child’s birth, Doyle filed this petition to legitimate and for custody. The trial court acknowledged that Doyle did not abandon his opportunity interest but decided that granting the petition to legitimate and change custody of the child was not in the child’s best interest. This order is directly appealable under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (11).

This Court will grant an otherwise timely discretionary application if the lower court’s order is directly appealable and the applicant has not already filed a notice of appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED.

Doyle shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court. If, however, he has already filed a notice of appeal, he need not file a second notice. The clerk of the trial court is DIRECTED to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to the Court of Appeals.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 08/07/2013 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,__________________ I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.