Maples v. Maples

The trial court properly entered the parties' original divorce decree order nunc pro tunc to cause the written judgment of divorce to relate back to the date of the original hearing and ruling issued.

Thank you for sharing!

Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

Husband and wife were married in 1983. Wife filed a petition for an uncontested divorce on April 26, 2000, and the trial court signed a final decree granting a divorce on June 1. However, the decree was not filed with the clerk until August 1, 2002. In the meantime, husband and wife, believing they had already been divorced pursuant to the final decree, were married again on June 25, 2000. The parties lived together as husband and wife and raised their children together until June 29, 2010, when wife filed a complaint for divorce. Soon thereafter, each party learned that the final decree of divorce was not filed in the previous action until August 1, 2002, more than two years after they remarried. Thereupon, husband moved to dismiss the case filed in 2010, and wife moved to amend the judgment in the earlier, 2000 case. The trial court heard wife’s motion in the 2000 case, and amended the order in that case by entering an order nunc pro tunc to ensure that the order reflected the true judgment rendered by the court, i.e., that the parties were to be divorced on June 1, 2000. In so doing, the trial court concluded that the nunc pro tunc amendment was demanded by law, equity and morality.

Husband sought a discretionary appeal from the nunc pro tunc order in the 2000 case, asserting, inter alia, a nunc pro tunc order cannot be used to backdate the entry of a divorce decree. We granted review under this Court’s previously instituted Pilot Project for domestic relations cases now set forth as Supreme Court Rule 34 4. We find no error and affirm.

Maples v. Maples

The trial court properly entered the parties' original divorce decree order nunc pro tunc to cause the written judgment of divorce to relate back to the date of the original hearing and ruling issued.

Share with Email

Thank you for sharing!

Trending Stories

More From ALM

Subscribe to Daily Report