Alexandre v. Davis

90 Misc. 2d 368, 394 N.Y.S.2d 757, 1976 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2871
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 19, 1976
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 90 Misc. 2d 368 (Alexandre v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alexandre v. Davis, 90 Misc. 2d 368, 394 N.Y.S.2d 757, 1976 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2871 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1976).

Opinion

Arnold L. Fein, J.

Plaintiff moves for (1) summary judgment in the sum of $46,939.20 predicated on the alimony and child support provisions of a separation agreement; (2) dismissal of the counterclaims in the answer of her former husband; (3) counsel fees; (4) leave to enforce that portion of paragraph 7 of the agreement which entitles her to examine defendant’s tax returns once every three years; and (5) to amend the amended complaint to include a demand for all arrears due and owing to the return date of the motion.

Defendant cross-moves (1) pursuant to CPLR 3211 (subd [a], par 7) to dismiss the amended complaint for failure to state a cause of action; (2) for summary judgment granting the relief sought in defendant’s three counterclaims and dismissing plaintiff’s first, fifth and sixth causes of action; and (3) to preclude plaintiff from offering evidence at trial pursuant to CPLR 3042 (subd [c]).

So much of plaintiff’s motion as seeks to amend and update the ad damnum clause of the amended complaint is granted. No possible prejudice can result to defendant from such relief. (CPLR 3025, subds [b], [c]; Rosen v Goldberg, 28 AD2d 1051, affd 23 NY2d 791.)

Two sons were born of the marriage, aged five and eight years at the time of the agreement.

[370]*370The agreement, entered into on May 3, 1965 during the parties’ 10th year of marriage, provides in pertinent part:

"5. The Husband shall pay to the wife for her support and maintenance the sum of $600.00 per month * * *

"a. Said payments shall be made to the wife whether or not she remarries and shall terminate upon the death of either the Husband or the Wife.

"6. The Husband shall pay to the Wife for the support, education and maintenance of their two children the sum of $500 per month for each child”.

The husband also obligated himself to pay for the children’s education (par 8) and for "traveling or living in foreign countries” related to their education (par 4 [g]). Plaintiff has submitted documentary evidence supporting her claim for reimbursement in the sum of $3,639.20 advanced to cover such expenses.

The agreement also provides that alimony and child support payments are to be increased prospectively every three years by 10% if defendant’s income has increased by at least 10% during the previous three-year period (par 7).

A divorce was procured by defendant in Mexico on May 8, 1965. The agreement was incorporated by reference into the Mexican divorce decree. It appears that both parties have entered into second marriages. Defendant remarried on June 18, 1965, after obtaining the Mexican divorce. Defendant fully complied with all the terms of the agreement for approximately seven years. In January, 1973, however, he ceased making payments under the agreement’s child support and alimony provisions.

Defendant contends that (1) the agreement is invalid in its entirety in that it was conditioned on a "collateral oral agreement” to dissolve the marriage; (2) the alimony provisions in the agreement lacked consideration because plaintiff had remarried prior to its execution; (3) the agreement is against public policy to the extent that it provides for the survival of his obligation to pay alimony beyond the date of plaintiff’s remarriage; (4) he entered into the agreement in reliance upon plaintiff’s false denial that she and her present husband (Alexandre) "were having carnal relations with each other [and] were secretly planning to be married * * * or were married”. Defendant claims he "did not discover the fraud” until 1973.

[371]*371In his counterclaims defendant seeks repayment of all moneys paid under the alimony and child support provisions of the agreement and demands an accounting of all moneys received by plaintiff for the support of their children. Defendant also claims (1) plaintiff has waived her right to examine his tax returns at this time because she has failed to exercise said right in the past; and (2) since he is required under the agreement to make special payments for his sons’ travel and education he should not be required to pay the child support moneys demanded in the amended complaint while his sons were away from plaintiff’s home.

All of the grounds upon which defendant predicates his affirmative defenses and counterclaims are without merit. The alleged "collateral oral agreement”, even if made, is insufficient to invalidate the separation agreement. The separation agreement contains no "express provision requiring the dissolution of the marriage [nor] for the procurement of grounds for divorce.” (General Obligations Law, § 5-311; Collins v Johnson, 72 Misc 2d 1034, 1035, affd 75 Misc 2d 489; Rosen v Goldberg, supra; Gunter v Gunter, 28 AD2d 666, affd 20 NY2d 883.)

A provision in a separation agreement requiring a husband to make alimony payments after his wife’s remarriage to another is enforceable and is not against public policy. (Collins v Johnson, supra.) As that case notes, the law is well settled that in the absence of a provision in the separation agreement terminating the husband’s obligation on the remarriage of the wife, the husband will be required to comply with his agreement to pay alimony despite the wife’s remarriage. (Graham v Hunter, 266 App Div 576, 579; Gush v Gush, 14 Misc 2d 146, affd 9 AD2d 815.) Nor will the adultery of the wife, even though it be open and notorious, bar her right to alimony under the agreement. (Leffler v Leffler, 50 AD2d 93; Murray v Hassman, 26 AD2d 647, affd 19 NY2d 828.) A fortiori, the obligation survives where express provision is made to continue such payments even after the wife’s remarriage. Nor does the issue turn on the expansion of women’s rights in the age of feminine liberation, nor one’s discomfort at the notion of requiring a man to support a woman who is living with or married to another man. The husband is bound by the clear language of his agreement. (Galusha v Galusha, 116 NY 635; Goldman v Goldman, 282 NY 296; Nusbaum v Nusbaum, 280 App Div 315.)

[372]*372Defendant’s reliance on Schley v Andrews (225 NY 110) and Sleicher v Sleicher (251 NY 366) is completely misplaced. In Schley, the agreement was held to be invalid because it expressly conditioned alimony upon the wife’s procurement of a divorce. Sleicher held only that the wife was barred from recovering alimony for the period of the wife’s remarriage to another where such second marriage was terminated by an annulment and the agreement provided for termination of support on the wife’s remarriage. Sleicher’s holding that the wife was entitled to resumption of support from her first husband under their separation agreement, after the annulment of her second marriage, would tend to support plaintiff here. However, to this extent Sleicher has since been overruled by Gaines v Jacobsen (308 NY 218), holding that the wife’s remarriage finally terminated her right to support under an agreement so providing, albeit her second marriage was terminated by an annulment. These cases turned on the fact, carefully overlooked by defendant here, that the agreements involved provided for termination upon the wife’s remarriage. The agreement sub judice expressly provides that support of the wife shall continue "whether or not she remarries”.

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Bluebook (online)
90 Misc. 2d 368, 394 N.Y.S.2d 757, 1976 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2871, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alexandre-v-davis-nysupct-1976.