Opinion
No. 9329DC1267
Filed 18 October 1994
Divorce and Separation § 450 (NCI4th) — child support — order not appealable until entry of permanent alimony order Defendant's assignment of error pertaining to a child support order was not reviewable on appeal until entry of a final order on plaintiff's claim for permanent alimony.
Am Jur 2d, Appeal and Error §§ 50 et seq.
Appeal by defendant from order entered 7 October 1993 by Judge Mark E. Powell in Transylvania County District Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 14 September 1994.
Averette Barton, by Donald H. Barton, for plaintiff appellee.
Ramsey, Hill, Smart, Ramsey Pratt, P.A., by Michael K. Pratt, for defendant appellant.
Plaintiff and defendant married in 1969 and adopted two minor children. They separated on 2 January 1993. Plaintiff filed a complaint for divorce from bed and board, alimony, alimony pendente lite, child custody, child support and equitable distribution on 28 June 1993. After a hearing, the trial court ordered custody of the two minor children to plaintiff, as well as an award for child support and alimony pendente lite. Defendant appeals portions of the order only with regard to child support.
This appeal is interlocutory and must be dismissed according to this Court's holding in Fliehr v. Fliehr, 56 N.C. App. 465, 289 S.E.2d 105 (1982).
The order appealed from in this case was for child custody and child support in conjunction with an order awarding alimony pendente lite. The Court in Fliehr concluded that if we allow such appeals we would defeat the purpose announced in Stephenson v. Stephenson, 55 N.C. App. 250, 285 S.E.2d 281 (1981) of avoiding appeals from temporary support orders sought merely for the purpose of delay. Fliehr, 56 N.C. App. 465, 289 S.E.2d 105. Therefore, defendant's assignment of error pertaining to the child support order is not reviewable on appeal until entry of a final order on plaintiff's claim for permanent alimony. Id.; see also N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 54(b) (1990).
Dismissed.
Judges MARTIN and THOMPSON concur.