# Smith v. South Carolina Retirement System

> Court of Appeals of South Carolina · July 6, 1999 · 336 S.C. 505

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9576602

## Case

- **Full name:** Marian Kay SMITH, Appellant/Respondent, v. the SOUTH CAROLINA RETIREMENT SYSTEM, Respondent, Elena P. Smith, Respondent/Appellant
- **Court:** Court of Appeals of South Carolina
- **Decided:** July 6, 1999
- **Citations:** 336 S.C. 505; 520 S.E.2d 339; 1999 S.C. App. LEXIS 116
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Cureton
- **Judges:** Anderson, Stilwell, Cureton
- **Cited by:** 10 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9576602

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding a party's belief "even with good reason[ ] that [the agency would] reject her claim[ ] d[id] not establish futility as a basis for excusing exhaustion in the absence of a definitive statement by the agency administrator"
- holding a party's belief "even with good reason[] that [the agency would] reject her claim[] d[id] not establish futility as a basis for excusing exhaustion in the absence of a definitive statement by the agency administrator"

## Opinion text

CURETON, Judge
(Concurring):
I concur in the result reached by the majority on all issues, but I would analyze Section II of the opinion dealing with “Exhaustion of Remedies” differently. I view S.C.Code Annotated Section 9-18-30 as establishing a jurisdictional bar to the circuit court considering former Wife’s declaratory judgment action against SCRS. That section makes the administrator of the retirement system the exclusive authority to determine the effect of the divorce order on the husband’s retirement benefits. S.C.Code Ann. § 9-18-30(A). If the ad *533 ministrator refuses to. implement the terms of the divorce order, former Wife may appeal that decision to the Administrative Law Judge Division. An adverse decision by the Administrative Law Judge Division may be appealed to the circuit court. As I interpret Section 9-18-80, an appeal from the administrative law judge is the exclusive method of obtaining judicial review. The circuit court simply does not have jurisdiction to entertain a declaratory judgment action against the retirement system where the issue concerns qualification of a domestic order.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9576602. Public record. Not legal advice.