In the case of Bishop v. Baumgartner 292 Ga. 460; 738 S.E. 2d 604 2013, the father, Mr. Bishop appealed to the Georgia Supreme court to try to overturn the trial court’s decision to grant sole legal custody of their daughter to his ex-wife and revoking his visitation rights to the child. Mr. Bishop claimed that the trial court abused its discretion in denying Mr. Bishop visitation rights. The appellate court had previously upheld the trial court’s decision.
Mr. Bishop and Ms. Baumgartner were married in April 2008 in Ohio and had a baby girl in February of 2009 in Ohio, where the mother resided while Mr. Bishop was serving the U.S. military in Iraq. The couple separated at the end of 2009 and Ms. Baumgartner moved with her daughter to Georgia where she petitioned for divorce in a court in Colombia County.
In regards to custody for their daughter the court found Mr. Bishop to be morally unfit for visitation and that he had failed to act in the best interests of his child. The court used the standards set forth in OCGA § 19-9-3 which outlines 17 factors to be used in determining the best interests of the child. In putting Mr. Bishop to this litmus test the courts could only find one of the 17 factors in his favor, which was that the guardian ad litem recommended visitation. Some of the factors were taken into consideration against Mr. Bishop were that he had not seen the child in 18 months and had made no attempts to locate her, he had been twice arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs and spent three days in jail and had his license revoked.
A guardian ad litem was appointed in December of 2010 and in her assessment she determined that Mr. Bishop was unfit for visitation however she did recommend that he be given visitation in order for his parents to have access to their grandchild. The trial court ruled that the father’s lack of interest in the child and alcohol abuse made him unfit for visitation. Both the appellate court and the Georgia Supreme court upheld the trial court’s decision.
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