Smith v. Smith, 79A24

Carol Sperry Smith and Dale Preston Smith divorced after a long marriage; the dispute concerns the classification of a tract of land (Racetrack Road) for equitable distribution.
Prior to trial, both parties filed a stipulation in 2019 that characterized Racetrack Road as marital property, valued at $46,563.
In 2022, Dale Smith moved to set aside this stipulation, claiming the land was his separate property acquired before marriage; no direct ruling on this motion occurred.
The trial court ultimately classified Racetrack Road as Dale’s separate property and did not expressly address the stipulation issue.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals (by a divided panel) affirmed the trial court, leading Carol Smith to appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court based on the dissent.
Procedurally, plaintiff’s lawyer invited the court to proceed without a formal ruling on the motion to set aside, implicating the doctrine of invited error.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Racetrack Road should be marital or separate property given prior stipulation	Stipulation was binding as not formally set aside	Land was always separate property, and motion to set aside was timely filed	Plaintiff invited error by allowing court to proceed without proper resolution, so relief denied
Whether failure to rule on motion to set aside stipulation was legal error requiring new trial	Yes, no ruling means stipulation stays in effect and binds the court	No, parties later acknowledged dispute over property’s status in Schedule E	Relief denied based on invited error doctrine
Whether the trial court’s findings about plaintiff’s contributions were supported by competent evidence	Finding unsupported because stipulation showed property was marital	Racetrack Road was separate property; value not disputed	Court did not disturb property classification; finding stands
Role and effect of pretrial stipulations in equitable distribution	Failure to rule on motion means stipulation stands	Stipulations can be set aside for mistake, even without formal order, where conduct implied waiver	Court avoided deciding this; focused on invited error

Smith v. Beasley, 298 N.C. 798 (stipulations establish facts in controversy and are binding)
Rural Plumbing & Heating, Inc. v. H.C. Jones Constr. Co., 268 N.C. 23 (parties are bound by stipulations, but stipulations can be set aside in some circumstances)
State v. Payne, 280 N.C. 170 (invited error doctrine)
Frugard v. Pritchard, 338 N.C. 508 (party cannot appeal error it invited at trial)