South Carolina Supreme Court leaves intact important Court of Appeals opinion on prenuptial agreements

Posted Thursday, December 3rd, 2015 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Equitable Distribution/Property Division, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific

I probably should have noted this when it came out, but on October 28, 2015 the South Carolina Supreme Court, in Hudson v. Hudson, 414 S.C. 352, 778 S.E.2d 482 (2015), dismissed as improvidently granted the writ of certiorari it issued to review the Court of Appeals opinion in Hudson v. Hudson, 408 S.C. 76, 757 S.E.2d 727 (Ct. App. 2014).

That Court of Appeals opinion reversed a family court decision that found the parties’ prenuptial agreement on marital property to be unconscionable. The Court of Appeals decision makes it easier to uphold prenuptial agreements. Had the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals it would have made it harder to enforce prenuptial agreements. The Supreme Court’s dismissal of the writ leaves the Court of Appeals decision intact.

Hudson is the first time since I began this blog that the Supreme Court has issued a published decision dismissing a writ of certiorari as improvidently granted for a Court of Appeals opinion pertaining to family law. While these dismissals do not make new law, they do solidify the Court of Appeals’ decisions. Thus, this dismissal of certiorari is noteworthy.