When is a Divorce Final?

Today, the Mississippi Court of Appeals decided Arrington vs. Arrington located here.  The issue in the case was that a final decree was signed by the chancellor but never filed with the Chancery Court. By the time it was filed, one of the parties had contested the decree.  The Court of Appeals found that Rule 58 clearly provides that “[a] judgment shall be effective only when entered as provided in Rule 79(a).”  (Emphasis added).  Rule 79(a) requires the clerk to keep a “general docket” and to enter “all . . . judgments.”  Thus, we may conclude that a judgment is not final until it is recorded in the clerk’s general docket.  M.R.C.P. 58, 79(a).   As a result, the parties were back at square one on a divorce action.