Stone v. Thompson

833 S.E.2d 266 (S.C. 2019)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

M and F began a romantic relationship shortly thereafter. F was married to another man at the time and obtained a divorce from him in 1987. Later that year, M and F had their first child. In 1989, the parties had their second child and started living together. They continued to live, raise their children, and manage rental properties together for approximately twenty years. F worked as a veterinarian and owned multiple practices, while M performed contracting work and collected rent from tenants. In 2012, M filed a complaint in family court seeking a declaratory judgment that the parties were common-law married, a divorce, and an equitable distribution of alleged marital property. F answered, asserting the parties were never common-law married and seeking dismissal. The trial to determine if they were common law married involved more than a week of proceedings, testimony from over 40 witnesses, and nearly 200 exhibits. M's testimony focused on the parties' cohabitation for approximately twenty years, the fact that they raised their two children together during this time, and their partnership in acquiring, renovating, and renting multiple properties in the Charleston area. The parties were jointly titled on real estate, boats, bank accounts, and credit cards, as well as that F had listed herself as married to him on several documents from 2005-2008, including some prescribing criminal penalties for false statements. M's witnesses testified that the parties were assumed to be married in the community and were introduced as husband and wife by themselves and others on multiple occasions without correction. F testified she never intended to marry M and went to great lengths to preserve her unmarried status. She pointed to numerous documents listing both her and M as single during the relevant time period, including all of their tax returns, his documents related to a Costa Rican financial venture, and a 2008 agreement signed by both parties. F's witnesses reported that they and others in the community knew she and M were not married and they never heard them introduced as such. Several testified F had told them she would never marry again. The court held that the parties were common-law married beginning in 1989 when they began to live together full-time and F introduced M as her husband during an art opening. F appealed to the court of appeals which determined the family court's order was not final and appealable because it did not end the case. P petitioned for a writ of certiorari, which the Court granted.