Justia Family Law Opinion Summaries

Respondent, the wife, appealed from the Family Court's July 27, 2009 entry from divorce from petitioner, the husband, who initiated the divorce proceedings on January 16, 2009. At issue was whether the Family Court erred by concluding that the husband had completed the applicable Parent Education Program ("PEP") as required by 13 Del. C. 1507(h) because he should have been required to complete a PEP that had a domestic violence course component. Also at issue was whether the Family Court erred in holding that the PEP requirement of section 1507(h) did not have to be satisfied before entry of the divorce decree. The court held that the Family Court did not err by entering the final divorce decree on July 27, 2009 where, because the court never found that husband was required to attend a PEP that had a domestic violence education course component, the husband's earlier completion of the April 2009 PEP course satisfied the requirements of section 1507(h). The court also held that, even if the husband was required to complete a PEP which included a domestic violence education course component, completion of that PEP was not a condition precedent to the Family Court's entry of the divorce decree. Therefore, the judgment of the Family Court was affirmed.