Opinion
A21A1803
07-28-2021
CHALIS B. SNOWDEN v. DAMARIS MARSHALL.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
On April 16, 2021, the trial court entered an order granting Damaris Marshall's petition for modification of custody. Chalis B. Snowden filed a motion for reconsideration from this ruling. The trial court denied the motion for reconsideration on May 20, 2021, and Snowden filed a notice of appeal on June 1, 2021. We lack jurisdiction.
A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the entry of the order sought to be appealed. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). "The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction upon an appellate court." Perlman v. Perlman, 318 Ga.App. 731, 739 (4) (734 S.E.2d 560) (2012) (punctuation omitted). Here, Snowden had a right to appeal directly the trial court's April 2021 order, which modified custody. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (11). Instead of filing a notice of appeal from this ruling, Snowden filed a motion for reconsideration. However, the denial of a motion for reconsideration is not directly appealable, and the filing of such a motion does not extend the time for filing an appeal. Bell v. Cohran, 244 Ga.App. 510, 511 (536 S.E.2d 187) (2000); Savage v. Newsome, 173 Ga.App. 271, 271-272 (326 S.E.2d 5) (1985). Because Snowden did not file a timely notice of appeal from the trial court's April 2021 order, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.