BELCHER v. BELCHER
S15A1451
Supreme Court of Georgia
JANUARY 19, 2016
782 SE2d 2 | 333 Ga. 333
MELTON, Justice.
Kelly Roberts, pro se. Ashley Wright, District Attorney, Joshua B. Smith, Assistant District Attorney; Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Donald Belcher (Husband) and Sarah Belcher (Wife) divorced in 2005. Following a dispute over unpaid alimony to Wife in which Wife eventually prevailed, the trial court awarded $2,500 in attorney fees to Wife in a December 17, 2014, order. Husband initially filed a timely application for discretionary appeal of this order in the Court of Appeals, and the Court of Appeals properly transferred the application to this Court. This Court granted Husband‘s application to determine whether the trial court erred in its award of attorney fees to Wife, and, for the reasons set forth below, we must reverse the trial court‘s December 17 order in part, vacate the order in part, and remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings.
By way of background, the parties’ divorce decree requires Husband to pay Wife alimony of $500 per month until her death or remarriage. In December 2013, Husband stopped making alimony payments and had a stop payment order put on the previous month‘s alimony check. On April 16, 2014, Wife called Husband‘s telephone number and spoke to his current wife, and, in early May, she sent Husband and his current wife certified letters, which the current wife signed for, notifying them that payment was declined on the November 2013 check and requesting payment by cashier‘s check or money order. On May 15, 2014, Husband‘s attorney wrote to Wife, acknowledging her certified letters, saying that Husband “has held all [alimony] payments in savings,” and demanding adequate proof of Wife‘s “current health status” before the funds would be released to Wife. Wife then hired an attorney, who wrote to Husband‘s attorney on June 11, explicitly stating that “she [i.e., Wife] is alive” and demanding immediate payment of all past due alimony and resumption of monthly alimony payments.
On July 7, 2014, Husband filed a verified petition for a declaratory judgment. Husband alleged that Wife had cancer and that he did not know if she had “survived treatment,” and he asked for a declaration requiring Wife to verify her “ongoing health status” to him and to provide him with “notice of her passing.” On July 9, Wife was personally served, as indicated on the Sheriff‘s Entry of Service. Wife filed a verified answer and a motion to dismiss the petition under
On September 15, 2014, Wife filed a motion for attorney fees under
This Court granted Husband‘s application to appeal with the following question:
Did the trial court err in its December 17, 2014 order to the extent that it awarded attorney fees under
OCGA § 9-4-9 and by awarding attorney fees underOCGA § 9-15-14 (a) without making express findings specifying the abusive conduct for which the award was made? See Lawhorne v. Soltis, 259 Ga. 502, 504 (384 SE2d 662) (1989); Williams v. Becker, 294 Ga. 411, 413-414 (754 SE2d 11) (2014).
As Wife correctly concedes, the trial court erred to the extent that it awarded attorney fees under
Judgment reversed in part and vacated in part, and case remanded with direction. All the Justices concur.