Clark v. Wade

Fletcher, Presiding Justice.

In these two child custody disputes, the maternal grandparents challenge the trial court’s award of custody to the noncustodial father. The trial courts found in both cases that it would be in the best interest of each child to remain with his grandparents, but struck down the “best-interest-of-the-child” standard in OCGA § 19-7-1 (b.l) as unconstitutional. We granted the grandparents’ discretionary applications to determine whether the best-interest-of-the-child standard is constitutional in custody disputes between a parent and a third party. Considering the…