Lensey Wallacev.Stephanie Chandler Et Al.
Lensey Wallace’s child had been placed with Stephanie and George Chandler during a pending juvenile dependency matter. The Chandlers later filed a superior-court custody petition while Wallace was incarcerated, and the court awarded them custody without her participation. Wallace moved to set aside the order, arguing that the nonrelative Chandlers lacked standing and that the superior court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals of Georgia held that the Chandlers were not among the limited relatives authorized by OCGA § 19-7-1 (b.1) to seek custody from a parent. Their petition also could not be treated as a dependency petition because juvenile courts have exclusive original jurisdiction over such proceedings. Because standing is a prerequisite to subject-matter jurisdiction, the superior court had no authority to enter the custody order. The appellate court reversed the order denying Wallace’s motion to set aside and held that the custody judgment was void.
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