Murphy, Mary v. Jayson Murphy

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

MARY MURPHY,1 § § No. 275, 2025 Petitioner Below, § Appellant, § Court Below–Family Court § of the State of Delaware v. § § File No. CN23-03101 JAYSON MURPHY, § Petition No. 23-25440 § Respondent Below, § Appellee. §

Submitted: February 24, 2026 Decided: March 2, 2026

Before SEITZ, Chief Justice; LEGROW and GRIFFITHS, Justices.

ORDER

(1) On June 27, 2025, Mary Murphy filed a notice of appeal from the

Family Court’s May 30, 2025 order denying Murphy’s motion to reopen proceedings

relating to the enforceability of a premarital agreement. On July 15, 2025, the Court

denied Murphy’s petition to proceed in forma pauperis. The next day, the Senior

Court Clerk advised Murphy to pay the Court’s filing fee by July 29, 2025, or a

notice to show cause would issue. Murphy failed to pay the filing fee. On July 31,

2025, the Chief Deputy Clerk issued a notice directing Murphy to show cause why

this appeal should not be dismissed for her failure to pay the filing fee. The notice

1 The Court previously assigned pseudonyms to the parties under Supreme Court Rule 7(d). instructed Murphy to respond by August 11, 2025. Murphy did not pay the filing

fee. Instead, she filed a notice of removal of this matter to the United States District

Court for the District of Columbia. On February 24, 2026, the District Court

remanded this matter to Delaware for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

(2) Under the rules of this Court, a party filing an appeal must pay the

applicable filing fees, unless the Court authorizes the commencement of the appeal

without prepayment of fees because the party is indigent.2 Because the Court denied

Murphy’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis and Murphy has failed to pay the

filing fee, this appeal must be dismissed.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this appeal is

DISMISSED under Supreme Court Rule 29(b).

BY THE COURT:

/s/ N. Christopher Griffiths Justice

2 Del. Supr. Ct. R. 20(a), (h). 2