Court Opinion

ID: 9784136
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 20:38:23.657459+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:49.549478
License: Public Domain

THOMPSON, Judge,
concurring:
Respectfully, I concur with the opinion of the majority. However, I must state that Steven Age’s appeal from the denial of a CR 60.02 motion to set aside a decree is invalid and should be summarily dismissed. KRS 22A.020(3) states: “Notwithstanding any other provision in this section, there shall be no review by appeal or by writ of certiorari from that portion of a final judgment, order or decree of a Circuit Court dissolving a marriage.”
As stated by our Supreme Court in the case of Clements v. Harris, 89 S.W.3d 403, 404 (Ky.2002), “[gjenerally, a decree of dissolution of marriage is not subject to review before an appellate court of the Commonwealth.” The Supreme Court further stated that “for well over a century, appellate courts of the Commonwealth have consistently held that a judgment granting a dissolution of marriage is not appealable or subject to appellate jurisdiction.” Id. This decree of dissolution of marriage cannot be set aside by virtue of a CR 60.02 motion as the logic of our statutory and common law is well reasoned.
If a decree of dissolution of marriage were subject to appeal or to be set aside at a future date by the stroke of a pen of a judge, it could create illegitimate children who were previously legitimate children of a marriage after the decree. For those reasons, I believe Mr. Age’s motion to set aside is invalid on its face and the appeal on this issue is frivolous.