Jackson v. Jackson

Hill, Chief Justice.

We granted this application to appeal the denial of the mother’s motion for new trial and to set aside a divorce and child custody judgment entered by the Fulton Superior Court. In the decree sought to be set aside, the trial court, before whom the mother did not appear, granted child custody to the father on March 5, 1984.

Karen and Charles Jackson, Jr., were married in 1977, and their daughter, Brittany, was born in 1979. In May 1983, the couple was living in Georgia when they separated and the mother and child moved to Massachusetts, where the mother’s family resided. On…