## Facts

- Thomas Sullivan married Lavona Hill in Maryland in 1979; they separated but never divorced.
- In 1986, Sullivan went through a marriage ceremony with Barbara Sullivan in South Carolina; she obtained a license and entered the marriage believing in good faith that Sullivan was unmarried.
- The couple lived together as husband and wife for roughly sixteen years, and Sullivan later listed Barbara as his spouse on NFL pension paperwork.
- Sullivan died in 2002, and an NFL retirement plan began paying “surviving spouse” benefits to Barbara.
- Several years later, Hill asserted she was Sullivan’s lawful surviving spouse and claimed the benefits.
- In federal interpleader litigation over who qualified as the “lawful spouse” under South Carolina law, a federal trial court concluded the 1986 marriage was void for bigamy and that South Carolina had not adopted a putative spouse doctrine.
- On appeal, a federal court certified to the South Carolina Supreme Court the question whether South Carolina recognizes the putative spouse doctrine.

## Issues

1. Whether South Carolina recognizes a putative spouse doctrine that would confer spouse-like legal rights on a person who entered into a marriage in good faith that is void due to an undissolved prior marriage.

## Decision

- The South Carolina Supreme Court answered the certified question in the negative and declined to adopt the putative spouse doctrine.
- The court held that recognizing putative spouse status would conflict with South Carolina’s statutory scheme and existing marital law.

## Legal Principles

- Under S.C. Code Ann. § 20-1-80, a marriage contracted while a prior spouse is living is void; courts may not treat such a marriage as valid for purposes of conferring spousal rights.
- Creation of a putative spouse status is a policy choice that, in South Carolina, must come from the General Assembly rather than judicial decision-making.
- South Carolina spousal rights depend on the existence of a valid marriage under statutory requirements; equitable hardship cannot supply legal marital status contrary to statute.
- Although equitable remedies may be available in appropriate cases, they do not authorize courts to deem a person a “spouse” or “surviving spouse” when the marriage is statutorily void.

## Conclusion

South Carolina does not recognize the putative spouse doctrine, and a good-faith participant in a bigamous marriage acquires no spousal status or spousal rights under South Carolina law because the marriage is void by statute.


Hill v. Bell, 405 S.C. 423, 747 S.E.2d 791 (S.C. 2013)