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254 Ga. 450

330 S.E.2d 706

Smith v. Smith

Supreme Court of Georgia

Decided June 18, 1985

Supreme Court of Georgia · decided 1985-06-18

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1985-06-18

How this case has been cited

Cited by 50 later decisions — most recently June 2019 · most notably Delong Equipment Co. v. Washington Mills Abrasive Co. (1988), Bible v. Bible (1989)

2 federal appellate · 40 state decisions

1801985199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Hill, Chief Justice,

¶1dissenting.

¶2The Code section in issue, subsection 5 of OCGA § 9-10-91, provides “long arm” jurisdiction “with respect to proceedings for alimony, child support, or division of property in connection with an action for divorce or with respect to an independent action for support of dependents.” As I read the Code section, the words “an independent action for support of dependents” refer to a petition for alimony or child support when there is no action for divorce pending. See OCGA § 19-6-10. Therefore, a petition for modification of alimony is not “an independent action for support” within the meaning of the Code section. Additionally, a petition for modification is not a proceeding “for alimony, child support, or division of property in connection with an action for divorce.” (Emphasis supplied.) I therefore dissent to Division 1 of the majority opinion.

¶3Similarly, in my view a petition for contempt is not a proceeding “in connection with an action for divorce” or “an independent action for support of dependents” within the meaning of the Code section. I therefore dissent to Division 2 of the majority opinion. Thus, I would not reach the issue as to the constitutionality of the Code section, which in my view presents a substantial question.

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