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March 18, 2026 Get Citation Alerts Download PDF Add Note

Carol Jenkins Jackson v. Michael F. Rivers

Court of Appeals of South Carolina

• Citations: None known
• Docket Number: 2023-001278

• Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

• Opinion

• Authorities (4)

• Cited By (0)

• Summaries (0)

• Similar Cases (0)

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Combined Opinion

THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE. IT SHOULD NOT BE
CITED OR RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING
EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 268(d)(2), SCACR.

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Court of Appeals

Carol Jenkins Jackson and Judy Sharon Jenkins Watkins,
Appellants,

v.

Michael F. Rivers, R.M. Lapp, Trustee for the St. Helena
Asset Trust, Heirs of Harrison Rivers, Heirs of Ophelia
Rivers, Heirs of Harold W. Rivers, Heirs of Rachael
Chisholm, Heirs of Florence C. Parker, Heirs at Law of
Rueben M. Chisholm, and also Vernell I. Smashum,
Barbara McClarking, Beverly J. Scott, Amos Williams,
Clifford Huff, Sandra Mack-Huff, a Trustee for the
Margaret Loyd Sumpter Trust Dated August 30, 2002,
Joseph A. Moore all of whom are believed to be adjacent
landowners and are made Defendants in this action, and
also all other persons unknown having or claiming to
have any right, title, estate, interest in or lien upon the
real property or any part thereof described in the
complaint herein, as John Doe and Mary Roe, including
all persons who may be deceased, minors, in the military
service of the United States with the naming of Title 50
United States Code, referred to as the Service Members
Civil Relief Act, as amended, persons on Compos Mentis
and any other disability, Defendants,

Of whom Michael F. Rivers is the Respondent.

Appellate Case No. 2023-001278

Appeal From Beaufort County
Maite Murphy, Circuit Court Judge
Unpublished Opinion No. 2026-UP-130
Submitted February 3, 2026 – Filed March 18, 2026

AFFIRMED IN PART AND REMANDED IN PART

R. Thayer Rivers, Jr., of R. Thayer Rivers, Jr. Law Ofc.,
of Ridgeland, for Appellants.

Harold Fred Kuhn, Jr., of Kuhn Law Firm LLC, of
Beaufort, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: Carol Jenkins Jackson and Judy Sharon Jenkins Watkins
(Appellants) appeal the circuit court's order finding Michael F. Rivers holds fee
simple absolute title in two pieces of disputed real property (the Disputed
Property). Appellants argue the circuit court erred because (1) the evidence does
not support the circuit court's finding that Rivers and his predecessors owned the
Disputed Property since 1933 and (2) it failed to make any findings of fact or
conclusions of law as to Appellants' ownership of the remaining property against
any other parties. We affirm in part and remand in part pursuant to Rule 220(b),
SCACR.

1. We hold evidence supports the circuit court's findings that Harrison and Ophelia
   Rivers, Rivers's parents and predecessors, acquired title to the Disputed Property
   because they satisfied the requirements for the ten-year statute of limitations for
   adverse possession as well as the twenty-year period for the presumption of a
   grant, thereby establishing complete and proper title which transferred to any
   subsequent owners. Rivers and two nearby property owners testified that Harrison
   and Ophelia, who acquired property from Appellants' predecessor in 1933, farmed
   the Disputed Property from at least 1960s until Ophelia's death in the late 1980s;
   furthermore, one of the nearby property owners testified she believed the farming
   was visible from the road. See Hilton Head Plantation Prop. Owners' Ass'n, Inc.
   v. Donald, 375 S.C. 220, 223, 651 S.E.2d 614, 616 (Ct. App. 2007) ("Generally, an
   action to quiet title to land lies in equity."); id. ("However, when the defendant's
   answer raises an issue of paramount title to land, such as would, if established,
   defeat plaintiff's action, the issue of title is legal."); Wigfall v. Fobbs, 295 S.C. 59,
   60-61, 367 S.E.2d 156, 157 (1988) ("Therefore, in a case tried without a jury, the
   factual findings of [the court] regarding title will not be disturbed on appeal unless
   found to be without evidence which reasonably supports the [court]'s findings.");
   Jones v. Leagan, 384 S.C. 1, 12, 681 S.E.2d 6, 12 (Ct. App. 2009) ("For the
   purpose of constituting adverse possession by a person claiming title founded upon
   a written instrument, land shall be deemed to have been possessed and occupied
   when it has been 'usually cultivated or improved,' and when it has been 'protected
   by substantial enclosure.'" (quoting S.C. Code Ann. § 15-67-230 (1)-(2) (2005)));
   S.C. Code Ann. § 15-67-230 (3) (2005) (stating land shall also be deemed to have
   been possessed and occupied "[w]hen, although not enclosed, it has been
   used . . . for the purposes of husbandry or for the ordinary use of the occupant");
   Jones, 384 S.C. at 15, 681 S.E.2d at 14 ("A person claiming adverse possession
   must have personally held the property for ten years, and tacking is allowed only
   between ancestor and heir."); Getsinger v. Midlands Orthopaedic Profit Sharing
   Plan, 327 S.C. 424, 430, 489 S.E.2d 223, 225-26 (Ct. App. 1997) ("In addition to
   the [ten]-year statute of limitation for adverse possession, South Carolina common
   law recognizes the [twenty]-year presumption of a grant."); id. at 430, 489 S.E.2d
   at 226 ("Under the presumption of a grant, the time of possession may be tacked
   not only by ancestors and heirs, but also between parties in privity in order to
   establish the [twenty]-year period."); id. ("To constitute adverse possession, which
   results in obtaining title to the disputed property, the possession must be
   continuous, hostile, open, actual, notorious, and exclusive for the requisite
   period."); id. ("The claimant's possession must be hostile to not only the true
   owner, but also to the rest of the world so as to indicate his exclusive ownership of
   the property."); id. ("These elements must also be present in the presumption of a
   grant."); Taylor v. Heirs of William Taylor, 419 S.C. 639, 655, 799 S.E.2d 919, 927
   (Ct. App. 2017) (holding the claimants, by establishing the elements of adverse
   possession, "acquired complete and proper title" to the property); Jones, 384 S.C.
   at 16, 681 S.E.2d at 14 (finding a transfer of possession in 1998 from the adverse
   possessor to a third party did not defeat the adverse possession claim when it was
   litigated in 2005 because the ten-year statutory period was complete in 1997).
   Accordingly, we affirm as to this issue.

2. We hold the circuit court erred when it failed to rule on Appellants' action to
   quiet title in the remaining portion of the real property. Here, Appellants brought
   action to quiet title in 4.33 acres of real property and the circuit court only ruled
   that Rivers held fee simple absolute title in the Disputed Property. Although the
   circuit court noted in its findings of fact that "[i]t was not disputed by any of the
   parties that [Appellants] own[ed] that portion of the 4.31 acres located to the north
   of the 'Fence Encroachment,'" such a finding of fact did not constitute a ruling on
   Appellants' action to quiet title in that same real property, and Appellants are
   entitled to a specific ruling concerning their ownership of the remaining acreage
   against any other parties. See S.C. Code Ann. § 15-67-10 (2005) ("Any person in
   possession of real property . . . may bring an action against any person who claims
   or who may or could claim an estate or interest therein or a lien thereon adverse to
   him for the purpose of determining such adverse claim and the rights of the parties,
   respectively."). Accordingly, we remand this issue for a ruling by the circuit court.

AFFIRMED IN PART AND REMANDED IN PART.1

WILLIAMS, C.J., and KONDUROS and VINSON, JJ., concur.

1
We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.