Catherine Smith v. Sally Brittingham Smith and John Michael Charles Smith

This is an appeal from an order joining a third party in a divorce action. During the husband and wife’s marriage, husband’s mother gave the couple a substantial amount of money. The wife filed for a divorce in circuit court. Soon after, the husband’s mother filed a lawsuit in chancery court against the husband and wife, alleging breach of an agreement to repay the funds and to grant her a security interest in the marital home. Simultaneously, she filed a lien lis  pendens on the marital home. The marital home was sold, and the chancery court transferred the husband’s mother’s lien lis pendens to the proceeds of the sale. The husband allowed a default judgment to be taken against him in his mother’s chancery court lawsuit. Subsequently, the circuit court granted the wife’s motion to join the husband’s mother in the divorce proceedings as a necessary party. Thereafter, the chancery court case was transferred to the circuit court. The circuit court held a trial on the merits; it found no agreement by the wife to repay the monies given to the couple by the husband’s mother, and dismissed her claim against the wife. The husband’s mother was awarded damages against the husband for the full amount of the money loaned, to be paid out of his share of the proceeds from the sale of the marital home. The circuit court’s distribution of the martial estate, however, effectively eliminated his share of the proceeds. The husband’s mother appeals, arguing that she was improperly joined in the divorce action, and that the circuit court did not give proper effect to her lien lis pendens against the proceeds from the sale of the marital home. On appeal, we affirm, finding that the joinder was proper and finding no error in the application of the lien against the husband’s share of the proceeds.