Summary: Rhonda Alexander filed for divorce from Joseph Dean Alexander on grounds of incompatibility. Joseph answered asking for a divorce based on incompatibility. Rhonda disclosed to the court that she suffered from a terminal illness and asked for an immediate divorce to allow her to leave her portion of the marital estate to her children. The trial court granted a divorce via court minute and ordered the parties to mediation regarding the marital assets. After this ruling, and before a journal entry was filed, Rhonda died. Joseph moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Rhonda had died and the court therefore lacked jurisdiction.
Legal Issue: The question before the Court was whether a divorce, where both parties sought dissolution of their marriage, is effective at the time pronounced by the trial court even though property issues had not been settled and no journal entry had been filed. The Court ruled that it was.
When examining a motion to dismiss the Court will make a de novo review, taking as true all factual allegations. Ordinarily the Court will look upon a motion to dismiss with disfavor, but because a court must not hear any case where it does not have jurisdiction, a dismissal based on a lack of jurisdiction is not so viewed.
The Court examined in detail the distinction between an enforceable decision and an appealable judgment. A judgment is "the final determination of the rights of the parties in an action." 12 O.S. §681. A document memorializing such a "final determination" must at minimum contain four elements: (1) A caption setting forth the name of the court, the names and designation of the parties, the file number of the case, and the title of the instrument; (2) a statement of the disposition of the action, proceeding, or motion; (3) the signature and title of the court; and (4) any other matter approved by the court. 12 O.S. §696.3(A). Additionally, the document must be filed with, and endorsed and dated by, the clerk of the court. However, pursuant to 12 O.S. §696.2(D), documents titled "Court Minute" or similarly are by definition NOT appealable judgments. This allows the trial court to memorialize its decisions without triggering appellate timelines.
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." 12 O.S. §696.2(E). Thus, a divorce is 'valid' as soon as the judge announces that is so -- regardless of when it is eventually written down, signed, or filed. In other words, the decision of the judge has the effect of granting the divorce upon announcement but does not become an appealable judgment until it is properly memorialized.
Joseph's motion to dismiss was not aimed at undoing the divorce. Rather, Joseph sought to undo that portion of the proceedings that dealt with the division of property. The trial court in Oklahoma is endowed with sweeping authority to bifurcate issues of property, child custody, and child support in divorce proceedings. The trial court's decision of an immediate divorce and reserving issues of marital property was held to be effective, even though it had not been memorialized in an appealable judgment.
Discussion: The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals heard a similar matter in 2003. In Whitmire v. Whitmire, 2003 OK CIV APP 87, the Court of Civil Appeals ruled that the trial court lost jurisdiction over the matter upon the death of one of the parties. The Supreme Court overruled Whitmire, agreeing with the dissenting opinion in that case.
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