Benham v. Benham

69 Misc. 442, 125 N.Y.S. 923
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 69 Misc. 442 (Benham v. Benham) 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
Benham v. Benham, 69 Misc. 442, 125 N.Y.S. 923 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1910).

Opinion

Tompkins, J.

This is a demurrer by the plaintiff to the defendant’s answer, upon the ground that it is insufficient in law upon the face thereof.

The admitted facts are that the plaintiff and defendant were married on the 2d day of September, 1896, at Pishkill in the State of Hew York, and that, in the month of September, 1898, the plaintiff and defendant, who were then living together, moved to St. Albans, Pranldin county, Vt., where the defendant became rector of S't. Luke’s Church. They lived together as husband and wife at St. Albans in the State of Vermont until the 15th day of June, 1904, a period of six years, when the plaintiff abandoned the defendant and left her home, and went to Pishkill in the State of Hew York, and never returned to the defendant or to their home in Vermont. On the 15th day of August, 1906, while the defendant was still residing at St. Albans in the State of Vermont, he instituted an action for a divorce [443]*443against the plaintiff in the County Court of Franklin county in the State of Vermont. The summons and complaint in that action were served upon the defendant (the plaintiff in this action) personally, at Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, FT. Y., on the 21st day of August, 1906, pursuant to an order duly made by a judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Vermont, under a statute of that .State which provides for such service upon the non-resident defendant. The complaint in that action alleged, as a ground for absolute divorce, intolerable severity, which, under the statute of Vermont, was a sufficient ground for an absolute divorce. The service of the summons and complaint in that Vermont action was duly and regularly made upon the plaintiff herein, who, however, did not appear or defend said action; and, in the month of September, 1906, after a hearing duly had in the said County Court in Franklin county, Vt., the defendant herein was granted an absolute divorce, and judgment therefor was duly made and entered in Franklin county aforesaid. Thereafter the 'defendant herein married another woman within the State of Few York and is now living with her at Buffalo in this State; and this action is brought by the former wife for an absolute divorce, alleging the defendant’s adultery with the woman with whom he is now living as his wife in the city of Buffalo. The answer sets up as a defence to the plaintiff’s cause of action the judgment granted in his favor against the plaintiff herein by the County Court of Franklin county in the-State of Vermont, and the question upon this demurrer is whether that judgment in the husband’s favor is good and effective in this State against the wife,—in other words, whether the judgment of the Vermont court is entitled to full faith and credit in this State, under section 1 of article 4 of the Federal Constitution.

The plaintiff’s counsel argue and insist that the Vermont court did not acquire jurisdiction of the person of the defendant because, at the time the action was commenced, she was not an .actual resident of that State, but was residing at Fishkill in the State of Few York, where the siTmmons was served upon her, and that such service did not confer juris[444]*444diction upon the Vermont court, and cites the case of Haddock v. Haddock, 201 U. S. 562, in support of their contention. In that case it was held that the mere domicile within the State of one party to the marriage does not give the courts of that State jurisdiction to render a decree of divorce enforcible in all the other States, hy virtue of the full faith and credit clause of the Federal Constitution, against a non-resident who did not appear and was only constructively served with the notice of the pendency of the action; and that, “ where a personal judgment has been rendered in the courts of a state against a non-resident merely upon constructive service, and therefore, without acquiring jurisdiction over the-person of the defendant, such judgment may not be enforced in another.state; indeed, personal judgment so rendered is, by operation of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, void as against the non-resident, even in the state where rendered, and therefore, such non-resident in virtue of rights granted by the Constitution of the United States, may successfully resist, even in the state where rendered, the enforcement of such a judgment.”

In that case, however, the. defendant was not and never had been a resident of the State of Connecticut, in which the action was brought and the judgment rendered; and the plaintiff apparently went into that State for the purpose of acquiring a residence to enable him to bring an action against his wife, who was a resident of the State of Hew York; and the court held that the wife, being domiciled in the State of Connecticut, was not bound by the judgment in •that State, which was based upon constructive service of the summons, only, and in which action she did not appear. That is the rule that has been laid down in other cases, and it is now well established that no valid decree of divorce can be made on constructive service by the courts of a State in which the defendant is not domiciled; but the case at bar is not such a case. Here the plaintiff and defendant moved to St. Albans, Vt., in September, 1898, and the case of Atherton v. Atherton, 181 U. S. 155, seems to be decisive of this demurrer.

In that case, the plaintiff, Mary Gr. Atherton, was mar[445]*445ried, in 1888, to the defendant, in Clinton, K. Y. After the marriage of the parties they took up their residence in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1891 the plaintiff left her husband’s house permanently, taking their child with her. • But before departing fbr the State of Kew York, she entered into a certain agreement with the defendant, Peter Atherton, with reference to providing for her support, and thereafter departed from Kentucky and came to the State of Kew York, as the trial court found in that case, with the intention of changing her residence and domicile from Kentucky to Kew York.

In December, 1892, the defendant commenced an action against the plaintiff, Mary G. Atherton, in Kentucky, for an absolute divorce, alleging that she had abandoned him in October, 1891; and that such abandonment had' continued for a period of more than a year.

Under the statutes of Kentucky, that state of facts entitles the plaintiff to a decree dissolving the bonds of matrimony. The defendant was not served with process in Kentucky, nor did she appear in the action, and a judgment of divorce was obtained by the husband in Kentucky in 1893.

Subsequently the wife began the action in the State of Kew York for a limited divorce, upon the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment; and, in this action, the decree of the Kentucky courts granting the absolute divorce was pleaded in bar of the wife’s action. The principal question presented upon the appeal was whether the Kentucky decree was a bar to the action, Mary G. Atherton attacking the decree on the ground that it was entered by a court having no jurisdiction of her person, she being, at the time the Kentucky action was begun and the decree was entered therein^ a resident of the State of Kew York.

On the other hand, the defendant in that action, Peter Atherton, insisted that his wife was, at the time referred to, a resident of Kentucky and, consequently, bound by the decree.

Upon this issue the courts of the State of Kew York decided in favor of the wife.

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71 Misc. 44 (New York Supreme Court, 1911)

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Bluebook (online)
69 Misc. 442, 125 N.Y.S. 923, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/benham-v-benham-nysupct-1910.