Dare v. Stokes

Summary

The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Dr. Daniel Dare’s motion to intervene in proceedings concerning modification of a property-settlement agreement incorporated into Paul and Sharon Stokes’s divorce judgment. The court held that Dare lacked a legally protected interest in the divorce and that the narrow exception allowing third-party intervention in divorce proceedings did not apply.

Holdings

1. Dare could not intervene because he had no legally protected interest in the Stokeses' divorce or their property-settlement agreement.
2. The narrow exception allowing third-party intervention in a divorce proceeding did not apply to Dare; third-party intervention remains generally prohibited absent a statute or the most unique circumstances.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Dare had a legally protected interest sufficient to permit intervention of right in the Stokeses' divorce-related proceeding.
2. Whether the limited exception permitting third-party intervention in divorce proceedings applied to Dare's circumstances.

Disposition

affirmed