Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ June 27, 2018 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A18D0496. SAMUEL L. SPENCE v. KELLI C. SPENCE.

On May 7, 2018, the trial court issued a decree of divorce to Samuel L. Spence and Kelli C. Spence. In the order, the trial court awarded joint physical custody of their minor children. The order also declared that, if the parties could not otherwise agree, then they would share visitation of the children during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays on a schedule to alternate yearly.

Under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (11), “[a]ll judgments or orders in child custody cases awarding, refusing to change, or modifying child custody” are directly appealable. In addition, “[u]nder Georgia law, visitation rights are a part of custody.”

Vines v. Vines, 292 Ga. 550, 551 (2) (739 SE2d 374) (2013). In his application, Samuel L. Spence challenges, among other things, the trial court’s custody and visitation rulings. Thus, the order at issue here is directly appealable.

This Court will grant a timely discretionary application if the lower court’s order is directly appealable. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED. Samuel L. Spence 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 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 06/27/2018 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.