Jacobs v. Stephens
| Decision Date | 08 February 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 1697 WDA 2017,No. 1698 WDA 2017,No. 1770 WDA 2017,1697 WDA 2017,1698 WDA 2017,1770 WDA 2017 |
| Citation | 204 A.3d 402 |
| Parties | Gina K. JACOBS, Formerly Known as Gina K. Stephens, Appellant v. Timothy L. STEPHENS, Appellee Gina K. Jacobs, Formerly Known as Gina K. Stephens, Appellant v. Timothy L. Stephens, Appellee Gina K. Jacobs, Formerly Known as Gina K. Stephens, Appellee v. Timothy L. Stephens, Appellant |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
William J. Cisek, Franklin, for appellant.
Michael J. Antkowiak, Franklin, for appellee.
In these consolidated appeals, Gina K. Jacobs and Timothy L. Stephens cross-appeal from an order finding that the parties owned a property as tenants in common, directing partition of the property, and awarding $ 27,726.73 to Jacobs. We affirm the portion of the order finding that the parties own the property as tenants in common and directing partition of the property in equal shares. We vacate the order in all other respects, and quash these appeals in all other respects, because the trial court lacked jurisdiction to decide any other issues under our recent decision in Kapcsos v. Benshoff , 194 A.3d 139 (Pa. Super. 2018) (en banc ).
The history of this case begins with Stephens' prior marriage to an individual named Kim Schwab. In January 2001, Stephens and Schwab held a wedding ceremony in Jamaica. At the time of their wedding, Stephens believed that their marriage was legal. Later that year, Stephens purchased a residential property at 174 Carey Lane in Cranberry Township. Stephens paid for the property entirely with his own money, and the deed did not list Schwab as an owner due to her poor credit. Stephens and Schwab separated in 2002, and there were no divorce proceedings. In 2005, Schwab married another man.
Stephens and Jacobs met in July 2009, and they married on September 11, 2009. Before they married, Stephens told Jacobs that he previously had a wedding ceremony in Jamaica, but he had consulted an attorney and did not believe that the Jamaican marriage was valid.
On September 19, 2009, Stephens and Jacobs executed a deed conveying the property at 174 Carey Lane from themselves, as "husband and wife," to themselves as "tenants by the entireties." On August 6, 2013, Stephens and Jacobs separated. On February 7, 2014, the trial court annulled their marriage, finding that Stephens' Jamaican marriage to Schwab was valid and that Stephens had failed to divorce Schwab.
On July 17, 2015, Jacobs filed a complaint seeking partition of the Carey Lane property and an award of reasonable rental value of the property from the date of separation onward. Stephens filed a counterclaim seeking reimbursement for various expenditures on the property, including repairs for the garage and kitchen, payments on a roof loan, and payment of real estate taxes and homeowner's insurance premiums.
On October 16, 2017, following a non-jury trial, the trial court entered an order finding that the parties held the property as tenants in common. The court directed partition of the property. Further, the court determined that Stephens had been in sole possession of the property since the date of separation, the value of the property was $ 145,000.00, and the value of each party's share was fifty percent of the total value, or $ 72,500.00. The court credited Stephens with $ 44,773.77 in payments for repairs to the premises, real estate taxes, and homeowners' insurance premiums. After subtracting this credit from Jacobs' one-half share of the value of the premises, the court entered an order in Jacobs' favor in the amount of $ 27,726.23.
On October 19, 2017, Jacobs filed post-trial motions. Stephens did not file post-trial motions. On October 30, 2017, Stephens filed a motion to strike or dismiss Jacobs' post-trial motions on the ground that Pa.R.Civ.P. 1557 did not permit exceptions to an order directing partition. On November 1, 2017, the trial court dismissed Jacobs' post-trial motions on the ground that she "[could] not file a motion for post-trial relief in response to an order directing partition." Order, 11/1/17, at 1.
On November 13, 2017, Jacobs filed notices of appeal from the October 16, 2017 and November 1, 2017 orders at 1697 and 1698 WDA 2017, respectively. On November 27, 2017, Stephens filed a notice of appeal from the October 16, 2017 order at 1770 WDA 2017. Both parties and the court complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925. Jacobs subsequently filed a praecipe to reduce the October 16, 2017 order to judgment.
In Jacobs' appeals at 1697 and 1698 WDA 2017, she raises four questions that we reorganize for the sake of convenience:
Jacobs' Brief at xi-xii (some capitalization omitted).
Stephens raises three issues in his cross-appeal at 1770 WDA 2017:
Stephens' Brief at 23-24 (some capitalization omitted).
We must first consider sua sponte whether the trial court possessed jurisdiction to enter the October 16, 2017 order. Turner Const. v. Plumbers Local 690 , 130 A.3d 47, 63 (Pa. Super. 2015) (). "[A]s a pure question of law, the standard of review in determining whether a trial court has subject matter jurisdiction is de novo and the scope of review is plenary." S.K.C. v. J.L.C. , 94 A.3d 402, 406 (Pa. Super. 2014) (internal alteration, quotation marks, and citation omitted). In accordance with Kapcsos , we hold that the trial court's jurisdiction was limited to deciding whether the property was subject to partition and identifying the nature and extent of Jacobs' and Stephens' interests in the property. We quash the cross-appeals to the extent that they involve issues falling outside these boundaries.
"Partition is a possessory action; its purpose and effect being to give to each of a number of joint owners the possession [to which] he is entitled ... of his share in severalty ... The rule is that the right to partition is an incident of a tenancy in common, and an absolute right." Lombardo v. DeMarco , 350 Pa.Super. 490, 504 A.2d 1256, 1260 (1985). "The purpose of partition is to afford those individuals who no longer wish to be owners the opportunity to divest themselves for a fair compensation." Russo v. Polid o ro , 176 A.3d 326, 329 (Pa. Super. 2017). Any one or more co-tenants may bring an action for partition, and all other co-tenants must be joined as defendants. Pa.R.Civ.P. 1553.
Kapcsos describes the law of partition procedure as follows:
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Jacobs v. Stephens
...motion? 4. Did [Stephens'] failure to file a post-trial motion for relief constitute a waiver of all of the issues in his cross-appeal? Id. at 405. Stephens raised three issues in cross-appeal: 1. Given that the sole reason for the transfer of the subject property from [ ] Stephens to [ ] S......