Terry v. Lee
| Decision Date | 08 June 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 23665,23665 |
| Citation | 308 S.C. 459,419 S.E.2d 213 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | Nancy W. TERRY, Respondent, v. Clyde J. LEE, Appellant. |
Harvey L. Golden, Columbia, and Douglas K. Kotti, Lexington, for appellant.
Robert J. Thomas and D. Randolph Whitt, both of Sherrill and Rogers, P.C., Columbia, for respondent.
Respondent Nancy W. Terry brought this action in the Court of Common Pleas seeking partition of Appellant Clyde J. Lee's military retirement benefits based upon a property settlement agreement incorporated in the parties' decree of divorce. The circuit court denied appellant's motion to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We reverse.
The parties were married in 1945, separated in 1966, and divorced in California in 1968. Prior to the Final Judgment of Divorce, the Superior Court of California issued its Interlocutory Judgment of Divorce dated November 1, 1967, which incorporated the terms and provisions of the parties' Property Settlement Agreement dated October 23, 1967. Included in Item 4 of the Agreement was the following provision:
Each of us hereby warrants to the other that neither of us is now possessed with any property of any kind or description whatever other than the property specifically listed in this agreement, or in any addenda hereto, and that neither of us has made without the knowledge and consent of the other any gift or transfer of any property within the last two years.
If it should hereafter be determined by a court of competent jurisdiction that either of us is now possessed of any property not set forth in this agreement or that one of us has made without the consent of the other any gift or transfer of community property, each of us hereby covenants and agrees to pay the other upon request an amount equal to one-half of the fair market value of such property.
The appellant was a member of the United States Navy throughout the marriage. At the time of the divorce, military retirement benefits were not divisible as marital assets. The appellant became eligible to receive military retirement benefits upon his retirement in 1972.
In February of 1990, relying upon S.C.Code Ann. § 15-61-50 (1976) and changes in federal and state law, the respondent instituted this action in the Court of Common Pleas for Richland County seeking a division of appellant's retirement benefits pursuant to the 1967 California order. See Federal Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, 10 U.S.C. § 1408 (1991 Supp.); Martin v. Martin, 296 S.C. 436, 373 S.E.2d 706 (Ct.App.1988). Section 15-61-50 provides in pertinent part:
The court of common pleas has jurisdiction in all cases of real and personal estates held in joint tenancy or in common to make partition in kind or by allotment to one or more of the parties upon their accounting to the other parties in interest for their respective shares ...
Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1), SCRCP, the appellant moved to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction asserting that respondent's action was "other marital litigation" within the meaning of S.C.Code Ann. § 20-7-420(2) (Supp.1990), which reposes exclusive jurisdiction in the family court. The circuit judge denied appellant's motion, holding that the court of common pleas was the proper forum since the action merely involved property rights as established under the 1967 interlocutory order and was not "marital litigation."
Section 20-7-420(2) states in pertinent part:
The family court shall have exclusive jurisdiction:
. . . . .
(2) To hear and determine actions.
For divorce a vinculo matrimonii, separate support and maintenance, legal separation, and in other marital litigation between the parties, and for settlement of all legal and equitable rights of the parties in the actions in and to the real...
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Emery v. Smith, 3870.
...court order, is fully subject to the family court's authority to interpret and enforce its own decrees. See, e.g., Terry v. Lee (Terry I), 308 S.C. 459, 419 S.E.2d 213 (1992) (stating that the family court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine the rights of the parties under an agreement ......
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Terry v. Lee
...motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The circuit court's decision was appealed and we reversed in Terry v. Lee, 308 S.C. 459, 419 S.E.2d 213 (1992). In Terry, supra, we held that the matters presented were marital litigation and that exclusive jurisdiction was found in......
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Keefer v. Keefer
...to the family court's authority to interpret and enforce its own decrees.” Id. at 214, 603 S.E.2d at 601–602; see Terry v. Lee, 308 S.C. 459, 462, 419 S.E.2d 213, 214 (1992) (stating the family court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine the rights of the parties under an agreement incorp......
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Key v. Key
... ... We disagree, as the ... settlement agreement was modifiable ... "The ... family court has exclusive jurisdiction: ... to modify or ... vacate any order issued by the court." S.C. Code Ann ... § 63-3-530(A)(25) (2009); see also Terry v ... Lee, 308 S.C. 459, 462, 419 S.E.2d 213, 214 (1992) ... (holding the family court has exclusive jurisdiction to ... determine the rights of parties under an agreement that is ... incorporated into a divorce order). However, "parties ... may by agreement exclude ... ...
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Marital Agreements: Can You Really Contract Out of Family Court Jurisdiction?
...Gilley, 327 S.C. 8, 488 S.E.2d 310 (1997). [24] Id. at 11, 488 S.E.2d at 311. [25] Id. at 10-11, 488 S.E.2d at 312 (citing Terry v. Lee, 308 S.C. 459, 419 S.E.2d 213 (1992) (family court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to settle a dispute between spouses involving respective interests in ......