Stone v. Thompson

Syllabus

This case initially came to the Court to consider whether an order from a bifurcated hearing determining the existence of a common-law marriage was immediately appealable. In Stone v. Thompson, 426 S.C. 291, 826 S.E.2d 868 (2019), we held it was and retained jurisdiction to consider the merits. Following oral argument in June of this year, the parties informed the Court they had reached a settlement agreement, and Thompson requested to withdraw her appeal. We will permit the parties to resolve their disputes themselves pursuant to Rule 261, SCACR, and partially remand to the family court for consideration of the agreement. However, because the case was fully litigated, briefed, and orally argued on appeal and presents important issues of law in South Carolina, we take this opportunity to address them. We have concluded common-law marriage's foundations have eroded in modern times, and the outcomes it produces are unpredictable and often convoluted. Accordingly, we join the overwhelming national trend and abolish it. Therefore, from this date forward, parties may no longer enter into a valid marriage in South Carolina without a license. We also refine the test courts are to employ henceforth in determining whether parties entered into such a marriage before the date of this opinion. A litigant must now demonstrate the parties mutually assented to marriage by clear and convincing evidence.