Alexander v. Alexander

Both parties in this matter sought dissolution of their marriage on grounds of incompatibility. The wife informed the trial court that she was terminally ill and wanted to finalize the divorce before her death as she wished to leave her part of the estate to her daughters. The judge granted the parties the divorce, and filed a Court Minute memorializing his ruling. The judge signed and dated the Court Minute and the attorneys who represented the parties also signed. The judge included an order in the Court Minute for mediation to resolve property issues and further ordered that a journal entry be presented to the court within five days. However, the wife died before reaching a property settlement with the husband. No journal entry was filed. The husband filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that after the wife died, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to proceed with the dissolution of marriage action. The wife's successors filed a response objecting to dismissal of the action. The trial court granted the husband's motion to dismiss. On appeal, the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. The issue this case presented for the Supreme Court's review was whether, where both parties sought dissolution of their marriage, was effective at the time pronounced by the trial court even though property issues had not been settled and no journal entry had been filed. Although a judgment is generally not "enforceable in whole or in part unless or until it is signed by the court and filed," Oklahoma law carves out an exception for divorce proceedings, where the adjudication of any issue shall be "enforceable when pronounced by the court." The Court found that the husband did not oppose the dissolution of the marriage; what he opposed in essence was the bifurcation of the divorce between the dissolution of the marriage and the property settlement. The implications of this for proceedings in which a spouse dies before a journal entry is filed, was that a trial court may pronounce that the marriage is dissolved, effective immediately, but that decision is not appealable until it is filed. The district court erred in dismissing this case for lack of jurisdiction. The Supreme Court remanded for the trial court to divide the property and take such further actions as were necessary. View "Alexander v. Alexander" on Justia Law