404 S.E.2d 120 | Ga. | 1991
PATSY HARPER
v.
KENNETH SMITH.
Supreme Court of Georgia.
Ms. Shelby Outlaw, Adams House, Decatur, Georgia, for PATSY HARPER. appellant.
Mr. Howard P. Wallace, Wallace & Moss, Griffin, Georgia, for KENNETH SMITH. appellee.
OPINION
SMITH
The parties were divorced on September 22, 1989 and on January 25, 1990 the appellant, Mrs. Harper, filed a contempt action against the appellee, Mr. Smith. The appellee answered and counterclaimed seeking to have portions of the original divorced decree vacated. The trial court vacated a part of the decree. We granted the appellant's application for discretionary appeal and requested the parties to address the issue of whether the trial court erred "by striking the promissory-note requirement from the divorce decree." We hold that the trial court did err, and we reverse.
A trial court has no authority, in a contempt proceeding, to modify a final judgment and divorce decree. Sells v. Eilender, 251 Ga. 463 (306 S.E.2d 662) (1983). That portion of the trial court order that vacated the promissory-note requirement was a modification of the final judgment and decree and must be reversed. The remaining portions of the contempt order are unaffected.
Judgment reversed.
