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Final Copy 290 Ga. 686 S11G1069. CROWE v. ELDER. HINES, Justice. This Court granted certiorari to the Court of Appeals in Crowe v. Elder, 308 Ga. App. 529 (707 SE2d 494) (2011) ("Crowe II"), to consider whether that Court erred in determining that the doctrine of res judicata bars plaintiff Crowe's "complaint for breach of contract" in this litigation involving the ultimate distribution of Crowe's father's estate. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that res judicata is a bar to the present suit, and we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals. Walter E. Elder III ("decedent") died intestate in 2004, leaving an estate valued at approximately $3,000,000. His widow, Eva Smith Elder ("Elder"), petitioned the Probate Court of Barrow County for a year's support of $3,000,000. Decedent's only child, Susan Elder Crowe ("Crowe"), did not file an objection to the petition, and a year's support was granted to Elder for the entire estate sum. On May 1, 2007, Crowe, individually and as guardian ad litem for her two minor sons, along with her emancipated son, filed in the probate court a motion

to set aside the year's support award, alleging that Elder fraudulently induced Crowe and her sons to consent to the requested year's support by promising that, after it was granted, the estate would be divided equally among Elder, Crowe, and Crowe's three sons, who are grandsons of the decedent, but that Elder failed to honor that agreement. On December 14, 2007, the probate court dismissed the motion on the basis that it lacked equity jurisdiction. Crowe appealed the dismissal to the superior court, and Elder filed a motion for summary judgment, which the superior court granted, after finding that Crowe had failed to state a valid claim for fraud. The superior court also found that inasmuch as Elder and Crowe were decedent's only heirs at law, Crowe's emancipated son and Crowe as guardian ad litem for her two minor sons were strangers to the order granting Elder's petition for year's support; therefore, they lacked standing to proceed as parties in the suit. Crowe appealed the grant of summary judgment to the Court of Appeals, and that Court affirmed the judgment without opinion pursuant to its Rule 36 ("Crowe I").1 In the meantime, in July 2008, Crowe filed in the superior court the present complaint for breach of contract against Elder for Elder's failure to honor the

1

296 Ga. App. XXIII (Case No. A09A0075) (Feb. 16, 2009) (cert. not applied for). 2

alleged agreement regarding the ultimate distribution of decedent's estate, that is, that it would be divided into five equal parts to go to Elder, Crowe, and decedent's three grandsons. The superior court granted summary judgment to Elder, finding that res judicata barred Crowe's claims. After examining the claims in Crowe I and the instant case, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the superior court; it found it undisputed that the elements of res judicata were satisfied, and consequently, that the doctrine barred this breach of contract action. And, so it does. As noted by the Court of Appeals, OCGA

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