We granted appellant’s application to appeal from the judgment of the trial court to address the following questions: 1) Is there a conflict between OCGA § 19-8-14 and the 1972 agreement between the parties; 2) does the adoption nullify that portion of the agreement that states that the appellant shall be responsible for college expenses?
Mr. Wannamaker and Mrs. Carr were divorced in 1972. The final judgment provided that Mr. Wannamaker was to pay child support of $30 per week for each of the three minor children until each child reached 21. In 1979 Mrs. Carr’s present husband adopted the children. She filed a contempt action against Mr. Wannamaker, alleging arrearages in child support 1972 through 1979 and alleging arrearages for failure to pay college expenses. The court found that Mr. Wannamaker was obligated for child support arrearages until the time of the adoption and that he was obligated to pay for the college education expenses of the children even though they had been adopted. The court concluded that this was true because Mr. Wannamaker had assumed by contract an obligation which could not be imposed upon *635 him by law to pay college expenses for his children.
1. Mrs. Carr has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal because of Mr. Wannamaker’s failure to file a notice of appeal within ten days after the application was granted as required by OCGA § 5-6-35 (g). However, he filed a notice of appeal after the application to appeal was filed but
before
the application was granted. To dismiss the appeal because the notice of appeal was not timely would not serve the spirit of the rule that the notice of appeal be filed within ten days. Although we have held that timely filing of the notice of appeal is necessary to confer appellate jurisdiction,
Hester v. State,
2. Mr. Wannamaker contends that the court erred in finding him responsible for the child support arrearages incurred 1972 through 1979, prior to the adoption of the children by the step father. This obligation accrued before any change in the relationship between Mr. Wannamaker and the children. However, Mr. Wannamaker insists that the claim of Mrs. Carr has become dormant after seven years under OCGA § 9-12-60 and that she made no effort to revive the claim within the statutory period of three years as provided by OCGA § 9-12-61. In
Zerblis v. Zerblis,
3. The court correctly found that although a parent is not by law obligated to provide a college education, he may by contract incur such an obligation. The question is whether under OCGA § 19-8-14, which provides that following the adoption “. . . the adopted individual thereafter is a stranger to his former relatives for all purposes . . . ,” the obligation survives the adoption.
The trial court looked to the contract between the parties and not to the decree of the divorce court to find a binding obligation to pay college expenses. The contract in question forms a part of the decree and the duties assumed under that contract flow from the parental status of the parties. The termination of that status and its privileges likewise terminate the obligations imposed. Of course, an adoption is the result of a judgment of a court. But it also has certain elements of contract involved since one party agrees to assume parental obligations and another party agrees either expressly or impliedly to surrender parental rights. When an adoption occurs, it effectively changes the status of the parties and, at the same time in cases such as this one, acts as a cancellation of the entire contract which was part of the divorce decree.
Judgment affirmed in part and reversed in part.