Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Everett H. Krueger is likely to soon grow weary of signing his name.

Court workers are scouring divorce and dissolution cases from the past five years to locate up to 700 where Krueger did not sign the final paperwork.

Krueger had allowed a magistrate to sign his name to agreed entries on dissolutions and divorces in the interest of expediting cases for former couples. But, an appeals court has ruled that doesn’t count. A judge must sign the entries.

“No divorces are invalid,” Krueger said today. “Just to be safe, I’m going through all the cases and signing all the agreed entries.”

The judge said he allowed magistrates to sign off on cases when the parties came to court with final agreements on property settlements and child custody and support “so they didn’t have to wait around for me to review anything.”

However, the Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled on May 26 that court rules require judges to personally sign court judgments and that such authority cannot be delegated to magistrates.

The case was appealed after Krueger refused last year to reopen a 2005 divorce case on grounds that it was void because he did not personally sign the entry.

A magistrate, and then Krueger, ruled that since neither the ex-husband nor ex-wife had previously contested the validity of the magistrate’s signature while going on to marry others, they had waived their right to contest the final entry.

The appeals court ordered the case reopened to allow one of the parties in the divorce to present new arguments on matters before the divorce is finally — and officially – closed with Krueger’s signature.

“The (appellate) ruling did not void any other judgments,” Krueger said. “I’m just looking to put my original signature on them.”

The lawyers involved in the divorce appeal did not return telephone calls seeking comment.