Spies v. Carpenter, 296 Ga. 131

Husband and wife married in California in 2000; two children born in California.
Family moved to Tennessee in 2006, then to the Atlanta area in 2011; separation occurred August 6, 2013.
Wife filed legal separation in California on October 17, 2013; husband served in Virginia.
California court issued a temporary custody order on November 21, 2013; husband filed for divorce in Fulton County, Georgia.
Wife moved to dismiss for inconvenient forum under UCCJEA; Fulton County dismissed the entire case on forum non conveniens February 21, 2014.
Georgia Supreme Court held dismissal of the entire petition was error; only custody issues may be dismissed under forum non conveniens; divorce action should not have been dismissed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether dismissal was proper for forum non conveniens as to the whole petition	Spies argued Holtsclaw requires dismissal only of custody, not divorce	Carpenter argued forum non conveniens dismissal of entire petition was proper	Dismissal of entire petition was improper; only custody could be dismissed under forum non conveniens
Whether OCGA § 9-10-31.1 applies to this case	Wife did not invoke § 9-10-31.1; Holtsclaw controls	§ 9-10-31.1 could modify Holtsclaw but not applied	Court did not consider § 9-10-31.1; not resolved on record
Whether residency or other grounds supported dismissal	Residence alone did not justify entire case dismissal	Forum non conveniens supported by multiple factors	Residency findings not made; overall dismissal reversed as to divorce

Holtsclaw v. Holtsclaw, 269 Ga. 163, 496 S.E.2d 262 (1998) (Ga. 1998) (parental forum non conveniens limits; divorce may not be dismissed under former law)
Wang v. Liu, 292 Ga. 568, 740 S.E.2d 136 (2013) (Ga. 2013) (for meaningful review, trial court must record essential reasoning)
Odion v. Odion, 325 Ga. App. 733, 754 S.E.2d 778 (2014) (Ga. App. 2014) (factors for forum non conveniens considered on appeal)