Longoria v. Longoria

324 S.W.2d 244, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2405
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 15, 1959
Docket13448
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 324 S.W.2d 244 (Longoria v. Longoria) 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
Longoria v. Longoria, 324 S.W.2d 244, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2405 (Tex. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

BARROW, Justice.

This suit was filed by appellee for a divorce from appellant, and a cross-action was filed by appellant for a divorce from appellee. The case also involves the custody, support and maintenance of two minor children, and property rights between the parties.

The case was tried to the court without a jury and judgment rendered granting appellant a divorce from appellee upon her cross-action, but custody and control of Manuel Oscar Longoria, a boy, was granted to appellee, subject to the right of the mother to be with said boy at reasonable times. Appellant was granted the care, custody and control of Marta Longoria, a baby girl, subject to the right of the father to visit and be with said child at reasonable times. The judgment ordered and decreed that appellee shall provide for and pay all expenses of the support, maintenance and education of the boy, and that appellant shall provide for and pay all expenses of the support, maintenance and education of the girl. That the two-room wooden frame house, 12 feet by 20 feet, shall be sold and the proceeds applied to the payment of doctors’ and drug bills incurred by appellant. That the title to the furniture and household goods, as well as the title to certain lots in the City of Alice be vested in appellant and divested out of appellee. That the judgment not be superseded pending the appeal. From that judgment appellant brings this appeal.

The appeal is predicated upon two points of error: First, that the trial court erred and abused its discretion in depriving the appellant of the care, custody and control of her minor son, Manuel Oscar Longoria, and in separating the said minor son from his younger sister, and in awarding the care, custody and control of said minor son to appellee. Second, that the trial court erred in divesting title to real estate from one of the parties hereto and vesting the same in the other party.

On October 17, 1956, appellee filed his original petition praying for a divorce, custody of the then two-year-old boy, and adjustment of property rights between the parties. Appellant filed her general answer to appellee’s suit on December 18, 1956. On December 17, 1956, appellee filed his application for custody of the boy pendente lite. Upon hearing of this application the trial court awarded temporary custody of the boy to appellant and made provisions for visiting rights by appellee.

No further pleadings were filed or action taken by the parties with reference to said cause until February, 1958, when appellant filed her first amended original answer and cross-action, alleging separation from ap-pellee on February 14, 1958, and the expected birth of the second child. In addition to a divorce, she prayed for the use of the house, for alimony, child support, all pen- *246 dente lite, and that appellee be required to pay the medical, doctors, hospital and nursing bills incurred by reason of the expected birth of the second child, and for custody of the two children, division of the community property and for support and maintenance of said children.

On March 3, 1958, upon a hearing of said application for temporary relief, the trial court entered an order, on agreement of the parties, ordering that appellee contribute the sum of $12.50 per week for the support of the mother and the boy then in being, pending the suit; that the two-room house be set aside and the title vested in the mother; that the household goods and furniture be set aside to the use of the mother and the boy, pending the suit, and that appellee pay all reasonable medical, hospital, doctor and nursing bills in connection with the expected birth of the second child; that the temporary order with reference to the custody, pendente lite, of the minor child, Manuel Oscar Longoria, shall remain in full force and effect; and that upon the birth of the unborn child the petition for divorce shall be presented to the court and the issues to be determined other than divorce, shall be the ownership or disposition of the household goods and furniture, and the amount of child support for the minor child in being and the said unborn child, and the issue of custody of said minor children.

On August 22, 1958, appellant filed a motion to hold appellee in contempt of court for failing to comply with the above order. A hearing was had on September 4, at which time appellee made arrangements to pay the sum of $125 on accrued medical bills, leaving several bills unpaid. On October 8, 1958, the case came on for trial on plaintiff’s original petition and defendant’s first original answer and cross-action.

Upon the trial of the case, all the evidence regarding the relationship of the parties was given by the testimony of appellant and appellee, and then for the first time appellee contended that he was not the father of the second child, and contended for the first time, that he had not lived with his wife, nor had any of the usual relations of husband and wife with her since their separation on October 13, 1956. On the-other hand, appellant testified that after the original filing of the suit, in the month of September, 1957, she and appellee were reconciled and lived and cohabited together until about December 30, 1957, when she left him for the reason that he wanted her to have the unborn child aborted.

It is undisputed that appellant is a trained practical nurse and beauty operator, well qualified to earn substantial wages. That during all the time from the original separation until just before the birth of the second child on September 4, 1958, she worked as a practical nurse in Hebbronville, earning $70 per week. That appellee during said time, and for thirteen years prior thereto, worked in a furniture store in Alice, and earned some $41 or $42 per week take home pay. That the boy in question, during his entire life, up to the trial of this cause, had lived with his mother; that she had him in kindergarten and paid his tuition during his entire attendance, with the exception of during the period of the alleged reconciliation. It was admitted that during that time she bought the lot in question out of her own money and that appellee did not even know of the purchase of said lot. Appellee testified that at the first temporary hearing he agreed to give appellant the house, “and I wanted my divorce.” He further testified that he could not pay more than $8 per week for the support of said children. However, the evidence shows that he paid the $12.50 per week up to the time of the trial, and he finally admitted that he could pay $10 per week in the future. He testified that out of his earnings he pays $5 per week to another child of a former marriage; that his board with his father and mother cost him $15 per week, and his laundry, $4 per week, and that he owes a note in the sum of $125, which he executed to make the payment on debts which he was ordered to pay on the temporary hearing.

*247 The evidence further shows that appellant in the month of March had a blood test made in connection with the pre-natal treatment, and that upon said blood test she discovered that she had syphilis. She testified that she must have caught the same from appellee, as she had no other way to catch it. She denied having had sexual relations with any other man.

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Bluebook (online)
324 S.W.2d 244, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/longoria-v-longoria-texapp-1959.