Kennedy v. Kennedy, 20636

• Decision Date: 14 March 1978
• Docket Number: No. 20636,20636
• Citation: 270 S.C. 358,242 S.E.2d 417
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Brenda W. KENNEDY, Administratrix of the Estate of E. W. Kennedy, Jr., et al., Appellants, v. Mary Frances V. KENNEDY, Respondent.

Page 417

242 S.E.2d 417

270 S.C. 358

Brenda W. KENNEDY, Administratrix of the Estate of E. W.

Kennedy, Jr., et al., Appellants, v. Mary Frances V. KENNEDY, Respondent.

No. 20636.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

March 14, 1978.

Jenkinson & Jenkinson, Kingstree, for appellants.

Nettles, Thomy & Smith, Lake City, for respondent.

GREGORY, Justice:

Mr. Kennedy was granted a divorce and his administratrix appeals from the order of the lower court requiring the payment of alimony and child support. The issues on appeal are whether Mr. Kennedy's obligations to pay alimony and child support survive his death. We hold his obligations to pay alimony and child support do not survive his death and reverse.

Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy were married on August 29, 1959 and two children were born to this union. At the time of these proceedings the children's ages were 13 and 9, respectively.

Difficulties developed between the parties, and in 1973 Mrs. Kennedy obtained a restraining order against her husband that prevented him from returning to the marital home. One year later Mr. Kennedy filed suit against Mrs. Kennedy for a divorce a vinculo matrimonii on the ground of desertion and the matter was referred to a Special Referee. Exceptions to the Special Referee's report were heard by the Honorable Frank Eppes. By Order dated March 31, 1976 the lower court granted Mr. Kennedy a divorce; ordered him to make periodic payments of alimony and child support; and ordered him to provide Mrs. Kennedy and the children the use of the marital home, or in the alternate, $175.00 per month as a housing allowance. Mr. Kennedy took exception to the order of the lower court requiring him to pay alimony, child support, and to provide a home for Mrs. Kennedy and the children, and this appeal followed.

Subsequent to the divorce decree Mr. Kennedy remarried. Shortly thereafter on October 21, 1976, he died intestate survived by his widow and the two minor children of his first marriage. With the exception of the family residence, Mr. Kennedy's estate consists of stocks and real estate he inherited from an aunt in 1973. Under the statute of descent and distribution, Section 21-3-20, 1976 Code of Laws of South Carolina, the widow and two children will each inherit an undivided one third interest in Mr. Kennedy's estate, which the record indicates is valued at approximately $111,250.00. The administratrix of Mr. Kennedy's estate was substituted as the party appellant.

The only issues presented by this appeal are whether Mr. Kennedy's obligations for alimony and support under the divorce decree survive his death.

The pertinent portions of the lower court's order provide as follows:

3. That the plaintiff (Mr. Kennedy) shall pay the sum of Two Hundred Thirty ($230.00) Dollars for each child every month through the Clerk of Court for Williamsburg County to be paid to the defendant (Mrs. Kennedy) until each child reaches her majority or is otherwise emancipated.

4. That the...