GA 19-7-40 - GA 19-7-40

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Superior Court lacked jurisdiction under O.C.G.A. § 19-7-40 to hear a child's complaint that the defendant administrator's decedent was the child's father and the child was the sole heir to his estate; the case was not a paternity action, it was a matter of descent and distribution subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the probate court. Rodriguez v. Nunez, 252 Ga. App. 56 , 555 S.E.2d 514 (2001). Trial by jury. - Retroactive application of the 1997 amendment, Ga. L. 1997, p. 1613, § 15, which extinguished the right to a jury trial in a paternity suit, was unconstitutional. Hargis v. Department of Human Resources, 272 Ga. 617 , 533 S.E.2d 712 (2000). O.C.G.A. § 19-7-40 expressly prohibited jury trials in paternity actions, and since the mother and former boyfriend con...