Novotny v. Horecka

206 N.W. 110, 200 Iowa 1217
Supreme Court of Iowa·Decided December 15, 1925·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Morling, J.

The plaintiff, Mary R. Novotny, formerly Mary'R. Prochaska, and Elmer W. Prochaska, then husband and wife, in 1912 acquired the premises in controversy in Belle Plaine as their home, and with their children occupied them until October, 1918, when the plaintiff commenced suit for divorce, and obtained an order’restraining the husband from coming on the premises. The defendant in that suit filed a cross-petition for divorce. In March, 1919, the former order was-set aside by an order providing:

“The defendant is restored to his rights to use and occupy his home in Belle Plaine, Iowa, and to have the care, custody, and control of his two minor children, Wilhelmina and Caroline Prochaska, pending the findings and decision of the' court in this cause. The plaintiff is, however, granted the right to see and visit with them at reasonable hours and places during that time.”'

In June, 1919, decree was entered, dismissing the plaintiff’s petition, and granting to the defendant husband a divorce on the ground of plaintiff’s adultery. The decree provided that the plaintiff should receive no alimony. It awarded to defendant “his home in Belle Plaine, Iowa, together with all furniture * * #” The decree found that the plaintiff was not a fit person to have the care of her children, and, finding that the defendant’s home had been broken because of plaintiff’s conduct, authorized defendant to leave the children with his sister, at Garner, Iowa. The decree restrained the plaintiff from interfering with the defendant or with his sister, but granted to her the right to occasionally visit the children. The plaintiff appealed, and in June, 1921, this court reversed the lower court; but no divorce was granted to the plaintiff. Rehearing was de *1219 nied October 1, 1921. Procedendo went down October 6, 1921. Prochaska v. Prochaska (Iowa), 183 N. W. 417 (not officially reported). Afterward, the husband brought a divorce suit on the ground of desertion, making other allegations probably intended to set up cruel and inhuman treatment. The defendant (plaintiff here) filed a cross-petition for divorce, alleging desertion. In May, 1923, decree was entered, granting to the defendant wife (plaintiff here) a divorce, awarding to her the property in controversy and the custody of the children.

Retracing this narrative, let us state that the husband, in December, 1918, moved to Miami, in Monroe County, which he says has been his place of residence ever since, with the intention of making it his home. The wife continued to occupy the home until the restraining order in March, 1919. The first decree, as has been noted, awarded to defendant “his home in Belle Plaine, Iowa, together with all furniture, ’ ’ etc. When the order of March, 1919, was granted, the plaintiff wife left the home, because, as she says, “it was the order of the court that I should leave the premises.” She says she never voluntarily left; that she just took some of her clothing and wearing apparel, and shortly after took some other clothing and personal property. In April, 1919, the husband put á tenant in possession of the premises. The plaintiff says she never consented to the lease, and did not receive any of the rents. The household goods were sold, but she did not consent to the sale or receive any of the proceeds. Plaintiff says that the husband never told her that he claimed to have abandoned the property as a homestead. She says that she never consented or agreed to any abandonment by the husband of his homestead rights, if he made any, and did not voluntarily leave the premises. At some time undesignated, she says, she got an invitation from the husband to live with him in Miami, but it was not made in good faith. The plaintiff says that she did not think that the Supreme Court gave her the right to occupy the place the same as before. In November, 1921, the plaintiff filed in the recorder’s office an affidavit claiming the property in question as her homestead, and stating that she never relinquished her homestead rights in it. In her answer in the second divorce case, she denied that her husband’s claim of residence in Miami was in good faith, and stated that it was for the *1220 sole purpose of depriving her of her homestead rights. She averred that he had driven her from her homestead and had received the rents. After she received her divorce, in June, 1923, the plaintiff proceeded to put the property in repair, and took possession and occupied it as her home.

The husband, in July, 1921, confessed four judgments in favor of the defendants, and in July, 1922, confessed a second judgment in favor of one of them. It is to remove the apparent lien of these judgments that this suit is prosecuted.

I. It is claimed that the husband abandoned the property as a homestead in December, 1918, and that the-property then lost its homestead character. The plaintiff, however, was then residing on the premises, occupying them and claiming them as her home. It is well settled that, under the circumstances of this case, the husband had no authority to bind the plaintiff by any attempted abandonment. Vittengl v. Vittengl, 156 Iowa 41; Lunt v. Neeley, 67 Iowa 97; Painter v. Steffen, 87 Iowa 171; Code of 1897, Section 2981.- .

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Novotny v. Horecka, 206 N.W. 110, 200 Iowa 1217 (iowa 1925).

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