Hausladen v. Hausladen

388 S.W.2d 952
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 26, 1965
Docket16467
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 388 S.W.2d 952 (Hausladen v. Hausladen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hausladen v. Hausladen, 388 S.W.2d 952 (Tex. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

BATEMAN, Justice.

A decree of divorce was granted to the appellee Victor H. Hausladen. The wife, Elinor H. Hausladen, appeals and prays *954 that the decree be reversed and rendered in her favor.

Her first two points of error on appeal question appellee’s qualification to bring the suit. The trial court filed findings of fact, one of which was that appellee had been a resident of the State of Texas “for a period of one (1) year prior to exhibiting his petition herein.” Appellant’s position under her first point of error is that this finding was insufficient as a matter of law in that it is not a finding that such inhabi-tancy was for the twelve months next preceding the filing of the petition, as required by Art. 4631, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St., citing Langford v. Langford, Tex.Civ.App., 337 S.W.2d 181. We overrule the first point for reasons which we shall now set forth in discussing the second.

The second point of error is that the evidence was insufficient to support the above finding. The evidence showed without dispute that the parties and their minor daughter lived together in their own home in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, where appellee was employed as a traveling salesman. He was notified by his company that he would be transferred to the Dallas, Texas area effective January 1, 1963. He came to Dallas alone on January 6, 1963, spent that night in a motel, rented a small efficiency apartment the next day and lived in it until he purchased a home in Dallas County in April 1963. His wife and daughter remained in their home in Missouri until April 1963 when they all moved into the newly purchased Dallas County home. He left most of his personal possessions, including the family furniture and other effects, in Missouri until that time. He gave St. Louis as his residence on his 1962 income tax return filed in April 1963, and he told his wife he still considered his home and church membership to be in St. Louis. Nevertheless, it is clear from the testimony of both parties, taken as a whole, that when they learned in the fall of 1962 of his pending transfer to Dallas, they both formed the intention in good faith to make Dallas County their permanent place of abode, which intent they carried into effect as soon as could conveniently be done. The wife stayed in the Missouri home until a suitable home was purchased in Dallas County, when she placed the Missouri home on the market and sold it. In the meantime she and the daughter visited appellee for short periods in the Dallas apartment. Appellee was actually physically present in Dallas County from his arrival on January 6, 1963 until after this suit was filed on January 6, 1964, except for short, temporary absences made necessary by his work. We hold that this satisfied the requirements of Art. 4631, V.A.C.S. and accordingly overrule both of appellant’s first two points of error. Warfield v. Warfield, Tex.Civ.App., 161 S.W.2d 533.

Appellant’s third, fourth and fifth points of error complain: (3) that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the court’s finding of unkind, harsh and cruel treatment of appellee by appellant, (4) that any such alleged acts of cruel treatment were provoked by appellee’s conduct, and (5) that the alleged acts of cruelty were condoned by appellee. We think it might aid in an understanding of our discussion of these three points to quote the trial court’s Findings of Fact Nos. 2 and 3:

“(2) That the parties were duly and legally married on or about September 18, 1948 and continued to live as husband and wife until on or about November 19, 1963 at which time they separated.
“(3) That Plaintiff VICTOR H. HAUSLADEN was guilty of adultery, not involving abandonment of wife and family, at a time prior to December 31, 1962; that the Defendant ELINOR H. HAUSLADEN became apprised and aware of such prior adultery during the month of October or November, 1962; that following such apprísal, Plaintiff agreed to and did discontinue his adulterous relationship and Defendant, in reliance upon Plaintiff’s agree *955 ment to discontinue such adulterous relationship agreed to continue the marriage relationship between the parties and forgive Plaintiff prior adultery; that thereafter. Plaintiff and Defendant continued to live as husband and wife, cohabiting together, enjoying normal marital sexual relations and reinstating the marriage relationship as it existed prior to the adulterous activity of Plaintiff; that after Defendant became apprised and aware of Plaintiff’s adulterous relationship, the parties agreed to sell their home in St. Louis, Missouri where they had lived for several years, and move to Texas; that pursuant to this agreement, the parties purchased a home in Richardson, Texas which they occupied in May of 1963, and in which they continued to live and cohabit as husband and wife in a general spirit of forgiveness by Defendant of Plaintiff’s prior adulterous relationship; that pursuant to Plaintiff’s agreement of December, 1962 to discontinue the adulterous relationship, Plaintiff did in fact discontinue and continually refrain from any adulterous relationship and did seek by his general conduct, demeanor, and attitudes, to make amends for his prior adulterous conduct, treating the Defendant with kindness and affection; that the Defendant did, by reason of her forgiveness of Plaintiff’s prior adulterous conduct, her subsequent co-habitation and continuation of the marriage relationship and her agreement not to allow her knowledge of and the prior existence of Plaintiff’s adulterous conduct to interfere with the marriage relationship, forgive and condone Plaintiff’s prior adulterous conduct; after such condonation by Defendant of Plaintiff’s prior adulterous conduct, the Plaintiff was not guilty of any act or acts to provoke or justify the Defendant’s unkind, harsh and cruel treatment toward Plaintiff; notwithstanding the absence of such provication or justification, the Defendant was guilty of unkind, harsh and cruel treatment toward the Plaintiff which conduct by Defendant has rendered the further living together of the parties '■insupportable (sic)”

Our careful review of the statement of facts persuades us that the court’s Finding No. 2 and that part of No. 3 which relates to the adulterous conduct of appellee and the forgiveness and condonation thereof by appellant, are supported by the evidence. We shall now discuss the evidence with respect to the last few words of Finding No. 3, wherein the court found that appellant was guilty of unkind, harsh and cruel treatment toward appellee which rendered their further living together insupportable.

Appellee’s testimony in this respect is to the effect that his wife berated him, called him a louse, accused him of doing things he was not doing, telling him he wasn’t treating her right and wasn’t paying enough attention to her, that he had been out with other women, and threatened to call his parents and tell them what a lousy son they had. He further testified that these outbursts affected his work and his sales volume. The record of this testimony is unsatisfactory in that it is impossible for us to determine therefrom just when all of these things occurred. It is fairly clear, however, that the conduct of which appellee complains began after appellant learned of his previous adultery.

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388 S.W.2d 952, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hausladen-v-hausladen-texapp-1965.