Bayne v. Bass
| Decision Date | 05 June 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 1527,1527 |
| Citation | 302 S.C. 208,394 S.E.2d 726 |
| Parties | Peggy Lynn BAYNE, Personal Representative of the Estate of Orene H. Bass, Appellant, v. William C. BASS, Respondent. . Heard |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
Charles W. Blackwell, of McMehan & Blackwell, Rock Hill, for appellant.
James R. Honeycutt, Fort Mill, for respondent.
In this Family Court action, Plaintiff Orene H. Bass (Wife) sought a divorce from Defendant William C. Bass (Husband). The Husband defaulted. At the end of the hearing the trial judge announced from the bench that the Wife had proved her case and that a divorce would be granted. He instructed her attorney to " ... prepare a decree, ...." Thereafter, before the decree was signed, the Wife committed suicide. Two days after her death, the judge signed a final decree granting the divorce along with other relief which order was filed with the clerk.
Thereafter counsel for the Husband moved the Court for an order " ... altering, amending and vacating this Court's Order ..." on the ground that the order was null and void.
After a hearing the court vacated its order. The Wife's interest, then represented by Peggy Lynn Bayne personal representative of the Wife's estate (Substituted Plaintiff) resisted the motion. The motion was granted and this appeal followed.
The sole issue submitted to this Court as taken from counsel's brief is as follows:
When a party to a divorce action dies after the hearing and the verbal decision of the court, but before that decision can be reduced to writing, may the Family Court proceed to issue its decree of divorce?
We hold that the Order granting the divorce was void and that the court properly vacated its own order.
Rule 26 of the South Carolina Rules of Family Court requires an order or judgment to set forth specific findings of fact and conclusions of law. It must be signed by the judge certifying compliance and must be issued as soon as possible after the hearing. The ruling of the trial judge was mandated by the case of Louthian and Merritt, P.A. v. Davis, 272 S.C. 330, 251 S.E.2d 757 (1979), wherein the court, speaking through Associate Justice, and now Chief Justice, George T. Gregory Jr., said:
... The lower court held that Mrs. Davis' death prior to the entry of a judgment in the divorce action abated the entire divorce action and deprived the court of subject matter jurisdiction to award attorneys' fees. We affirm.
Over and above the ruling in that case, there is an additional ground upon which the vacation of the...
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...Rule 203(b)(1) & (3), SCACR. An order becomes effective once the judge delivers it to the clerk of court. See Bayne v. Bass, 302 S.C. 208, 209, 394 S.E.2d 726, 727 (Ct.App.1990) (holding that until a ruling is reduced to writing, signed by the judge, and delivered for recordation it is not ......
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