WESLEY
v.
BROWN
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The court held that a divorce decree is not final until the expiration of the appeal period, and if a party dies before then, the divorce proceedings abate.
Appellant claimed an interest in real property by descent from her mother, who held it with her husband as tenants by the entirety. The mother obtaine…
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It is appellant’s contention that the property rights of Mr. and Mrs. Brown were dissolved by operation of law 2 at the time the final decree was signed and that thereupon her mother and father became tenants in common of the realty since under the practice in this jurisdiction there is no later “entry” of a final decree. In Oliver v. Oliver, 1950, 87 U.S.App.D.C. 334, 185 F. 2d 429, 431 this court dealt with the very question of finality of a divorce decree and ruled that Section 16-421 “ * * * contemplates a provisional decree of divorce only, which cannot mature and become effective until lapse of the intervening time” and that therefore the parties do not cease to be married until after the period provided.
In that case the question of finality arose in considering the validity of a marriage entered into following a decree of divorce, but that determination of finality is nevertheless dispositive of the instant appeal. Consequently, we hold that the finality requisite to the operation of Section 16-409 had not been achieved at the time of Mrs. Brown’s death, the divorce proceedings were properly declared abated, and summary judgment in the action to partition real property is
Affirmed.
. D.C.Code 1940 § 16-421: “No final decree annulling or dissolving a marriage shall be effective to annul or dissolve the marriage until the expiration of the time allowed for taking an appeal, nor until the final disposition of any appeal taken, and every final decree shall expressly so recite. Every decree for absolute divorce shall contain the date thereof and no such final decree shall be absolute and take effect until the expiration of six months after its date. (Apr. 19, 1920, 41 Stat. 567, ch. 153, § 983a; Aug. 7, 1935, 49 Stat. 540, ch. 453, § 4.)”
. D.C.Code 1940, § 16-409 : “Upon the entry of a final decree of annulment or divorce a vinculo, in the absence of a valid antenuptial or postnuptial agreement in relation thereto, all property rights of the parties in joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety shall stand dissolved and the court, in the same proceeding in which such decree is entered, shall have power and jurisdiction to award such property to the one lawfully entitled thereto or to apportion the same in such manner as shall seem equitable, just, and reasonable. (Mar. 3, 1901, ch. 854, § 974a, as added Aug. 7, 1935, 49 Stat. 540, ch. 453, § 3.)”
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Saunders v. Anne Baker Bein Hanson, 327 F.2d 889 (D.C. Cir. 1963)
Authorities Cited
- Oliver v. Oliver, 185 F.2d 429 (D.C. Cir. 1950)