Yarborough v. Yarborough

Supreme Court of South Carolina

Yarborough v. Yarborough

279 S.E.2d 130, 276 S.C. 416, 1981 S.C. LEXIS 404

CourtSupreme Court of South Carolina

DecidedJune 4, 1981

Docket21479

StatusPublished

Cited by1 cases

This text of 279 S.E.2d 130 (Yarborough v. Yarborough) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Yarborough v. Yarborough, 279 S.E.2d 130, 276 S.C. 416, 1981 S.C. LEXIS 404 (S.C. 1981).

Pincite

Opinion

Lewis, Chief Justice:

This complaint in this action for divorce was filed in the office of the Clerk of Court for Williamsburg County on April 6, 1979, after personal service of the pleadings on April 4, 1979. A final divorce decree was issued on June 22, 1979, less than three months after the complaint was filed, and granted custody of the minor child of the marriage to the paternal grandparents. This appeal is from that decree.

[417]*417Dispositive of the appeal is the contention by appellant that the final decree of divorce was “granted before three months after” the filing of the complaint seeking the divorce, in violation of the provisions of Section 20-3-80 of the 1976 Code of Laws of South Carolina. Section 20-3-80 prohibits the issuance of a divorce decree before three months after the filing of the complaint for divorce and is jurisdictional. See Anno. 62 ALR (2d) 1262. Therefore, the trial court clearly had no jurisdiction to grant the divorce before the expiration of the statutory time limit. The divorce decree is accordingly vacated and the cause remanded for such other proceedings as may be appropriate.

However, the award of custody of the minor child to the paternal grandparents shall remain in effect until the further order of the lower court.

Littlejohn, Ness, Gregory and Harwell, JJ., concur.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Lewis, Chief Justice:

This complaint in this action for divorce was filed in the office of the Clerk of Court for Williamsburg County on April 6, 1979, after personal service of the pleadings on April 4, 1979. A final divorce decree was issued on June 22, 1979, less than three months after the complaint was filed, and granted custody of the minor child of the marriage to the paternal grandparents. This appeal is from that decree.

[417]*417Dispositive of the appeal is the contention by appellant that the final decree of divorce was “granted before three months after” the filing of the complaint seeking the divorce, in violation of the provisions of Section 20-3-80 of the 1976 Code of Laws of South Carolina. Section 20-3-80 prohibits the issuance of a divorce decree before three months after the filing of the complaint for divorce and is jurisdictional. See Anno. 62 ALR (2d) 1262. Therefore, the trial court clearly had no jurisdiction to grant the divorce before the expiration of the statutory time limit. The divorce decree is accordingly vacated and the cause remanded for such other proceedings as may be appropriate.

However, the award of custody of the minor child to the paternal grandparents shall remain in effect until the further order of the lower court.

Littlejohn, Ness, Gregory and Harwell, JJ., concur.

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)

279 S.E.2d 130, 276 S.C. 416, 1981 S.C. LEXIS 404, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yarborough-v-yarborough-sc-1981.

Opinion

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack