Court Opinion

ID: 9643902
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:43:18.480148+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:05.456773
License: Public Domain

ORIE MELVIN, J.,
dissenting:
¶ 1 I disagree with the Majority’s conclusion the support order in question is interlocutory and unappealable. Accordingly, I dissent.
¶ 2 An appeal from a spousal support order is appealable when the record does not reflect a divorce action is pending. Rebert v. Rebert, 2000 PA Super 225, fn. 5, 757 A.2d 981; Hasson v. Hasson, 696 A.2d 221 (Pa.Super.1997). In the present case, Wife filed her petition for spousal support on June 21, 1999. The trial court entered a support order on September 20, 1999. *400At the time this support order was entered, no complaint in divorce was pending in Bucks County. Therefore, I would find the support order appealable. See Hasson, supra, citing Albee Homes, Inc. v. Caddie Homes, Inc., 417 Pa. 177, 187, 207 A.2d 768, 773 (1965) (holding reviewing court must consider only the facts which were of record and before the court as of the date the decision was rendered).
¶ 3 The Majority finds this Court is without jurisdiction to entertain this appeal from the support order since it is set in a divorce action. See Deasy v. Deasy, 730 A.2d 500 (Pa.Super.1999), appeal denied, 562 Pa. 671, 753 A.2d 818 (2000) (holding support order is interlocutory when entered during the pendency of a divorce action); Leister v. Leister, 453 Pa.Super. 576, 684 A.2d 192 (1996) (en banc) (same); Calibeo v. Calibeo, 443 Pa.Super. 694, 663 A.2d 184 (1995) (same). In making this determination, the Majority reasons the divorce complaint was a companion to the support action due to “Wife’s filing of the complaint and its incorporation into the support order....” Majority Opinion at 399.1 It defies logic to suggest the October 6, 1999 divorce complaint can be incorporated into the September 20, 1999 support order when the support order was entered first and provides no language permitting the incorporation of a future pleading. Therefore, I would find the divorce complaint is not a companion to the divorce action.
¶ 4 Moreover, the result reached by the Majority impinges upon the thirty-day period allowed under the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure in which to file an appeal. See Pa.R.A.P., Rule 903(a), 42 Pa.C.S.A. Husband timely appealed from the entry of the September 20, 1999 support order on October 19, 1999. Contrary to the Majority, I find Wife’s filing of a divorce complaint during that thirty-day period should have no effect whatsoever on the appealability of the support order on review here.
¶ 5 Accordingly, I dissent.

. Contrary to the Majority, the trial court found Wife’s divorce complaint was incorporated into the support petition. See Trial Court Opinion, 1/20/00, at 4.