## Facts

- Husband and Wife married in 1982, had five children, and moved to South Carolina in 1985.
- The parties built and lived in a home on property Husband purchased in 1989.
- Wife developed a secret relationship with Chris Craft, a social acquaintance connected to work performed on the marital home.
- Wife admitted repeated intimate conduct with Craft, including kissing him many times and allowing sexual touching of her breasts and genital area.
- The relationship involved secret meetings, including secluded parking-lot encounters inside Wife’s car.
- Husband discovered circumstances suggesting concealment, including Wife’s use of a cell phone billed to her mother’s address that showed numerous calls to Craft.
- Husband filed for divorce on the ground of adultery in 2000.
- The family court found Husband failed to prove adultery, awarded Wife alimony, classified certain disputed items (including a timeshare, a backhoe, and a gun collection) as marital property, and ordered Husband to pay Wife’s attorney’s fees.
- Husband appealed the adultery/alimony ruling, the marital-property classifications, and the attorney’s fee award.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence of Wife’s admitted sexual intimacy and secret conduct with a third party established adultery under South Carolina law, thereby barring alimony.
2. Whether the family court properly classified certain assets (including a timeshare, a backhoe, and a gun collection) as marital property for equitable distribution.
3. Whether the attorney’s fee award should be upheld in light of any changes to the adultery, alimony, or property rulings.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals held Wife committed adultery and reversed the family court’s contrary finding.
- Because adultery barred alimony, the Court of Appeals reversed the alimony award to Wife.
- The Court of Appeals affirmed some marital-property determinations but reversed others and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its rulings.
- The Court of Appeals modified the basis for attorney’s fees and remanded for reconsideration in light of the altered results.
- Disposition: affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

## Legal Principles

- Adultery as a ground for divorce must be proved by evidence that is clear and positive and established by a clear preponderance of the evidence.
- Adultery may be proved by circumstantial evidence showing both inclination and opportunity; direct proof of sexual intercourse is not required where the evidence supports the inference.
- A spouse’s adultery bars an award of alimony under South Carolina law when the adulterous conduct occurred before a qualifying support order or written property settlement.
- Equitable-distribution classification disputes turn on fact-specific inquiries such as acquisition during marriage, title, use, and evidence of donative intent or transmutation.
- Attorney’s fee awards in domestic cases depend on factors including the parties’ relative financial conditions, results obtained, and reasonableness; when merits outcomes change on appeal, fee determinations may require reconsideration.

## Conclusion

The Court of Appeals found that Wife’s admitted sexual behavior and clandestine relationship with a third party proved adultery by circumstantial evidence of inclination and opportunity, requiring reversal of alimony; it also partially reversed the property and fee rulings and remanded for recalculation consistent with the revised outcome.


Brown v. Brown, 379 S.C. 271, 665 S.E.2d 174 (S.C. Ct. App. 2008)