Custody can only be relitigated where legal custodian resides.

- Trial court erred by granting a parent's complaint for modification of child custody and support and changing custody, which was filed in that parent's county of residence, as that county was not the jurisdiction wherein the issue of custody and support was originally litigated and the opposing parent never waived the challenge to the jurisdiction of the trial court via a pro se letter, which merely acknowledged receipt of the complaint; as a result, the judgment granting the change of custody was reversed and the case was remanded to the trial court with directions for the trial court to transfer the case to the trial court of the proper county. Hatch v. Hatch, 287 Ga. App. 832, 652 S.E.2d 874 (2007).

Temporary emergency jurisdiction properly asserted.

- Trial court had temporary emergency jurisdiction in a child custody case because the children were visiting the father in Walker County, which was the location of the trial court, when the order was issued, and the trial court found that the children had been subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse; these were the only two requirements for temporary emergency jurisdiction under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-64. Taylor v. Curl, 298 Ga. App. 45, 679 S.E.2d 80 (2009).

Temporary emergency jurisdiction improperly asserted.

- Trial court erred by exercising temporary emergency jurisdiction after the child's mother died since the circumstances and well-being of the child, who was in the physical custody of the child's uncle and in no immediate danger, did not demand immediate action. Prabnarong v. Oudomhack, 334 Ga. App. 723, 780 S.E.2d 393 (2015).

Jurisdiction declined.

- When a father made threatening telephone calls from another state to a mother and to their child, a trial court could properly decline to exercise jurisdiction under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-64(a) of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, O.C.G.A. § 19-9-40 et seq., and under the similar jurisdictional provisions of the Parental Kidnapping and Prevention Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1738A, because the child was in no immediate danger as the child continued to be in the mother's custody so there was no true emergency requiring a Georgia court to exercise jurisdiction for the child's protection. Anderson v. Deas, 273 Ga. App. 770, 615 S.E.2d 859 (2005).

In a child custody case between parents who had been living in Michigan but were visiting the wife's parents in Georgia for Thanksgiving, even if there was no basis for emergency jurisdiction under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-64, given that no other state had a pending custody petition before it, the trial court properly considered whether the court had jurisdiction under O.C.G.A. § 19-9-61. Bowman v. Bowman, Ga. App. , S.E.2d (Mar. 6, 2018).

Cited in Baca v. Baca, 256 Ga. App. 514, 568 S.E.2d 746 (2002); Delgado v. Combs, 314 Ga. App. 419, 724 S.E.2d 436 (2012); Black v. Black, 292 Ga. 691, 740 S.E.2d 613 (2013).

ALR.

- Construction and application of uniform child custody jurisdiction and enforcement act's temporary emergency jurisdiction provision, 53 A.L.R.6th 419.