When you appeal a summary judgment in a Georgia divorce case, the appellate court reviews both the law and the evidence from scratch.
It Is Not an Abuse of Discretion Standard
In Hopkinson v. Labovitz, 263 Ga. App. 702 (2003), a woman suing her former divorce attorney argued that the trial court had abused its discretion in granting him summary judgment. The Court of Appeals corrected her: “‘Abuse of discretion’ is not the standard by which we review a trial court’s ruling on a motion for summary judgment; rather, we review the law and evidence de novo.” McGonigal v. McGonigal, 294 Ga. App. 427 (2008), applied the same rule to a post-divorce suit between former spouses over their settlement agreement.
The Record Is Read Against the Winner
Unlike a motion to dismiss, summary judgment is decided on the whole evidentiary record – and on appeal that record is construed in favor of the party who lost the motion. Fox v. Korucu, 315 Ga. App. 851 (2012), states it: “we view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.” The appellate court does not weigh the evidence or judge credibility.
The Judge’s Reasoning Does Not Have to Be Right
A grant of summary judgment survives even if the trial court’s stated reason was wrong. In Robertson v. Robertson, 333 Ga. App. 864 (2015), an action to set aside a 2008 divorce decree, the Court of Appeals held that a grant must be affirmed “if it is right for any reason, whether stated or unstated in the trial court’s order, so long as the movant raised the issue in the trial court and the nonmovant had a fair opportunity to respond.”
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!