McFarlane v. McFarlane

73 P. 203, 43 Or. 477, 1903 Ore. LEXIS 81
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 27, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 73 P. 203 (McFarlane v. McFarlane) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McFarlane v. McFarlane, 73 P. 203, 43 Or. 477, 1903 Ore. LEXIS 81 (Or. 1903).

Opinions

Mr. Chief Justice Moore

delivered the opinion.

This is a proceeding to alter a decree. The facts are that on February 24,1899, the plaintiff commenced in the circuit court for Marion County a suit against the defendant for the dissolution of the marriage contract existing between them, in which she demanded one third of his real property, particularly describing it, $1,000 as permanent alimony, $200 as attorney’s fees, and $50 per month for the support of their minor children. The defendant having left the state prior to the commencement of such suit, the summons was served by publication, and, not having returned or answered, a decree was rendered March 24,1902, dissolving the bonds of matrimony, awarding the plaintiff the custody of the minor children, one third of said real property, and her costs and disbursements, without other relief. Neither party appealing from said decree, the plaintiff intermarried with one W. D. Claggett, and on February 5, 1903, filed a petition in the original suit, stating in effect the facts hereinbefore detailed, and that the defendant, before the said suit was brought, collected about $5,000 in money and went to Ontario, Canada, leaving her and their minor children, Robert, Edna, and [480]*480Albert, 17,11, and 8 years old respectively, without money or means of support, and remained out of the state more than three and one half years, and until said divorce was granted; that since the defendant’s said departure from the state he has never aided in the maintenance of his minor children, though amply able so to do. and plaintiff has been compelled to support them, at an expense of $50 per month, or $2,150, and that the reasonable cost of the future support of the two minor children, Edna and Albert, until they attain their majority, is $25 per month; that $1,000 is a reasonable sum to be allowed plaintiff as alimony in the suit, in the prosecution of which she incurred an expense of $200 as attorney’s fees and $57 as costs and disbursements; that the defendant is now a resident of said county, and can be personally served, wherefore she prayed that a citation be issued requiring him to appear, at a time to be designated by the court, to show cause, if any he had, why the several sums hereinbefore stated should not be allowed her, and, at the hearing, that the decree in the divorce suit be modified so as to require him to pay said sums. The court having made the order prayed for, which being served upon the defendant, he appeared specially and moved to set aside the proceedings on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction of the subject-matter or of his person, but the motion having been overruled, and there being no answer or other plea, the relief prayed for in the petition was granted, and he appeals.

1. The statute regulating the mode of procedure in matters incident to the granting of divorces is as follows: “At any time after a decree is given, the court or judge thereof, upon the motion of either party, shall have power to set aside, alter, or modify so much of the decree as may provide for the appointment of trustees for the care and custody of the minor children, or the nurture and education thereof, or the maintenance of either party to the [481]*481suit”: B. & C. Comp. § 514. A suit for a divorce, so far as it affects the marital status of the parties, is a proceeding quasi in rem, hut so far as it relates to collateral matters, such as alimony and costs, it is in personam: 2 Bishop, Mar. Div. & Sep. §§ 23, 36, 79; 2 Black, Judg. § 933; Cooley, Con. Lim. (6 ed.) 499; 2 Freeman, Judg. (4 ed.) §§ 584, 586. The plaintiff, observing this rule, took no decree in the divorce suit for alimony, support of the minor children, or attorney’s fees, but, having waited until the defendant returned to this state, she instituted this proceeding, and the question to be considered is whether it is maintainable. A text-writer, speaking upon this subject, says: “ When the court has allowed the suit to be dismissed, or has finally entered its decree, it has no further jurisdiction over the parties or the subject-matter, except so far as this is reserved by itself or by statute”: Stewart, Mar. & Div. § 366. This author further says : “ But a decree of divorce a vinculo is final, and the jurisdiction of the court over the parties is, after the expiration of the term, at an end; and just as there can be no grant of alimony after such a divorce, so there can then be no change in the award of alimony, unless the right to make such change is reserved by the court in its decree, as it may be, or is given by statute, as it often is”: Stewart, Mar. & Div. § 376. The summons having been served by publication, the court was powerless to grant any relief in personam,, and, no jurisdiction of the subject-matter having been reserved in the decree, the court’s resumption thereof, if the right exists after the close of the term at which the decree was rendered, must be found in the statute quoted.

2. In Howell v. Howell, 104 Cal. 45 (37 Pac. 770, 43 Am. St. Rep. 70), a suit having been instituted for a dissolution of the marriage contract, the summons was served by publication, and, the defendant not having appeared in person [482]*482or by attorney, a decree was rendered divorcing the parties, awarding to the plaintiff the custody of their children, and giving to h er all the com munity real and personal property in California, but the complaint did not demand, nor did the decree grant, any sum as alimony. The time limited for taking an appeal having expired, the plaintiff filed a petition in the original suit, averring that she was in indigent circumstances, and unable to support herself and minor children, and praying that the defendant be required to pay such sum as to the court might seem just for that purpose, and that said alimony be made permanent. A demurrer to the petition on the ground of a want of jurisdiction having been overruled, and the defendant’s answer stricken out, an order was made requiring him to pay $100 a month for the purpose specified, and he appealed. In reversing the judgment, Mr. Justice McFarland, speaking for the court, says : “We are satisfied that the court had not jurisdiction to make the order appealed from. A judgment in a divorce suit settling the property rights of the parties, after the time for appealing therefrom has expired, is as final as any other kind of a judgment, except so far as the power to modify it is given by statutory provision. Of course, when we speak of final judgment, we mean one which does not upon its face reserve jurisdiction (when that can be done) to make a supplemental decree, in which case it is not final. In the case at bar there was no such reservation ; it was final in form and substance. And there is no statutory provision giving jurisdiction to make the order appealed from. Section 137 of the Civil Code provides that, ‘while an action for divorce is pending,’ the court may require the husband to pay, as alimony, money necessary to enable the wife to support herself and children and prosecute or defend the action. Section 139 provides that, where a divorce is granted for an offense of the husband, the court may compel him to provide for the maintenance [483]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 P. 203, 43 Or. 477, 1903 Ore. LEXIS 81, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcfarlane-v-mcfarlane-or-1903.