Opinion
A24A0451
10-23-2023
CAROLYN CORDELIA MILES v. RENEE HARDY, CAVEATOR.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
This case concerns the Estate of Pauline Martin. In October 2019, Vera Jacobs filed a petition for temporary letters of administration in Gwinnett County Probate Court, alleging that Martin had died without a will. The following month, Carolyn Cordelia Miles filed a competing petition to probate a will in solemn form, alleging that Martin had left a will. Following several years of litigation, the probate court on March 13, 2023, denied Miles's petition and declared the proffered will invalid. Miles filed an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, which transferred the matter to this Court. See Case No. S23A1197 (Sept. 6, 2023). Meanwhile, in probate court, Renee Hardy and Jacobs filed a new petition for letters of administration.
See Case No. A22A1298 (June 13, 2022) (dismissing Miles's appeal from an earlier order).
As a general matter, an order of the Gwinnett County Probate Court may be appealed directly to the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals. However, the order must be final. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (1) (appeals generally may be taken from "[a]ll final judgments, that is to say, where the case is no longer pending in the court below"); OCGA § 15-9-123 (a) (the provisions of Chapter 6 of Title 5 apply to probate appeals). Here, there is no indication that the administration of Martin's estate has concluded, and it appears that the probate case is ongoing. Accordingly, Miles was required to use the interlocutory appeal procedures to obtain review of the March 13, 2023 order, and her failure to do so deprives us of jurisdiction over this appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (b); In re Estate of Reece, 360 Ga.App. 364, 365-366 (861 S.E.2d 169) (2021). For this reason, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.
A party in a civil case in "probate court" shall have the right of appeal to an appellate court without first seeking review in superior court. See OCGA § 15-9-123 (a); Ellis v. Johnson, 291 Ga. 127, 128 (1) n. 1 (728 S.E.2d 200) (2012). A "probate court" is defined as "a probate court of a county having a population of more than 90,000 persons according to the United States decennial census of 2010 or any future such census[.]" OCGA § 15-9-120 (2). Per the 2020 census, Gwinnett County has a population of more than 90,000.