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Wallsv.Walls

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S12F0846
DecidedOctober 15, 2012
Reporter291 Ga. 757; 732 S.E.2d 407; 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 3131; 2012 WL 4855861; 2012 Ga. LEXIS 793
JudgesSupreme Court of Georgia
Tags
CivilFamily LawChild CustodyParental RightsStatutory InterpretationExpert TestimonyCivil ProcedureAppellate ProcedureReversalRemand
Case Summary

Pamela and Todd Walls divorced after a bench trial involving custody and child support for their two children. The trial court awarded Todd primary physical custody, ordered Pamela to pay $558 per month, and incorporated a worksheet showing an $83.20 downward deviation for extraordinary medical expenses. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed most of the decree. It rejected Pamela’s challenge to the alternative adultery ground because the irretrievable-breakdown ground independently supported the divorce, upheld the admission of Todd’s sister as a custody expert, and held that the pleadings were effectively amended by the parties’ trial of primary custody. The Court also found no reversible error in the unpreserved objections to the expert’s testimony or in the court’s treatment of a parenting-time deviation. But it reversed the child-support award because the decree did not contain the written findings required when a court deviates from the presumptive guidelines. Schedule E was blank, and the decree did not explain why the presumptive amount would be unjust or inappropriate or how the deviation served the children’s best interests. The case was remanded for a new child-support determination.

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