History
  • No items yet
midpage
Purcell v. Hopkins
240 Ga. 65
Ga.
1977
Check Treatment
Hall, Justice.

This child custody case involves the validity of a 1974 order (entered by consent of the parties), which changed the custody of the two minor children from appellant to appellee for medical reasons. The sole challenge to that order is that it was entered without subject matter jurisdiction.

In Hopkins v. Hopkins, 237 Ga. 845 (229 SE2d 751) (1976), we held that the superior courts have subject matter jurisdiction in cases involving custody or visitation rights because they are in the nature of habeas corpus, whether labeled habeas corpus or not. The 1974 order resulted from a case involving a change in custody, *66thus appellant’s challenge is without merit.1

Argued October 13, 1977 Decided October 25, 1977. Jones, Wilson & Tomlinson, John J. Jones, James M. Rudder, Jr., for appellant. Taylor, Morris & Hotz, Walter H. Hotz, for appellee.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur.

The same parties are involved in this case as in Hopkins v. Hopkins, supra. However, we reject appellee’s assertion of res judicata, and decide this case on the basis of stare decisis, since we are in doubt as to whether all of the requirements for res judicata exist.

Case Details

Case Name: Purcell v. Hopkins
Court Name: Supreme Court of Georgia
Date Published: Oct 25, 1977
Citation: 240 Ga. 65
Docket Number: 32859
Court Abbreviation: Ga.
AI-generated responses must be verified and are not legal advice.
Your Notebook is empty. To add cases, bookmark them from your search, or select Add Cases to extract citations from a PDF or a block of text.