Platner v. Platner

23 N.W. 764, 66 Iowa 378
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 6, 1885
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 23 N.W. 764 (Platner v. Platner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Platner v. Platner, 23 N.W. 764, 66 Iowa 378 (iowa 1885).

Opinion

Seevers, J.

, i. HUSBAND u”onywith-1' out divorce. I. The cause is triable de novo in this court, and it is contended by counsel for appellants that permanent alimony cannot be decreed “ without a divorce for *1 causes which would authorize a divorce.” " In Farber v. Farber, 64 Iowa, 362, it was contended that alimony could not be granted except for a cause which would warrant a decree of divorce; and in Graves v. Graves, 36 Iowa, 310, and Whitcomb v. Whitcomb, 46 Id., 437, it was held that an action like the present could be maintained. In none of these cases was it claimed that there was any distinction between permanent and temporary alimony, and we are by no means sure that what the court decreed in the present case should be regarded as permanent alimony, and that the plaintiff has no further claim on her husband or his property.

It is the duty of the husband, if of sufficient means, to support his wife and children in accordance with his and their station in life, and this is all the plaintiff asked, and the court decreed. An amount sufficient for this purpose was, in the opinion of the court, awarded to the plaintiff, and whether she will be entitled in future to anything more remains an open question. "While the plaintiff was entitled to her support, and has the legal right to ask that her husband shall contrib[380]*380ute from liis means thereto, she was not bound to ask for a divorce, although a sufficient cause therefor existed. It is the policy of the law to discourage rather than encourage divorces. The conduct of the plaintiff in this respect is commendable, and clearly she should not be deprived of. a support for the reason that she has not asked for, although she is entitled to, a divorce.

__ . denoe of oraseparation. II. The plaintiff voluntarily left the house and home provided for her by her husband. If she did so without sufficient cause, it will be conceded that she is not entitled to any relief whatever. She claims that spe couicl not live with her husband because of his cruel and inhuman treatment, which endangered her life, and that for this reason she left him. If this is true, then she is entitled to relief. But counsel insists that the evidence fails to establish that she was so treated, and that she left the home provided for her without cause. The parties were married in 1868, and the separation took place in March, 1880. If the evidence of the plaintiff can be believed, her husband as early as 1870 attempted to throw her out of the house, and gave her a push, which, owing to the fact that her foot carne in contact with something, caused her .to fall across the doorstep, which greatly shocked her, and she became ill, and was delivered of a still-born child. After' that, and up at least to 1878, he struck and kicked the plaintiff on several different occasions, and threatened to shoot and kill her. ITe substantially accused her of being unduly intimate with other men, and in language readily understood, in substance, said he was not the father of her children. The acts of violence were accompanied with abusive words. The times when and where he abused her were stated by the plaintiff, and it seems scarcely possible that she could have made up the story and sustained herself as well as she did on cross-examination. We feel constrained to believe that the plaintiff has in the main told the truth, with possibly, at least, some exaggeration. It is true that the defendant Plainer, as a witness in [381]*381Lis own behalf, testifies that he at no time used personal violence toward, or otherwise mistreated, the plaintiff. The plaintiff worked hard, and seems in every respect to have performed acceptably her duties as a wife and mother. Her husband makes no serious complaint against her in this respect. All that he testifies to is that she was hard to manage, and we-think this may be so, when the means employed by him are considered. He further testifies that she insisted upon her right to receive the addresses of other men. But he does not say that she was guilty of undue intimacy with such men, and, according to his declarations to at least one witness, she was a “ good woman.”

The last act of personal violence testified to by the plaintiff was in 1878, and counsel insist that the plaintiff is not entitled to relief because she did not leave him at that time, or at least sooner than she did.' Condonation is not pleaded or claimed; and from 1878 until March, 1880, when the plaintiff left her husband, his conduct towards her.in no respect improved, except that he did not use personal violence. On the contrary, liis conduct was such as to show a total want of affection-, or even'respect, either in sickness or in health. There was no forgiveness of conduct in the past, but the plaintiff simply endured until it ceased to be a virtue. There are many other things in the conduct of the defendant Platnef to which we might refer, but deem it unnecessary. We find as a fact that the plaintiff was justified in leaving when she did, because of his cruel and inhuman treatment, and wonder why she did not do so long before. Counsel for the appellants insist that the plaintiff is in no manner corroborated; and, this being so, she would not be entitled to a divorce, because the statute provides that a divorce shall not be granted on the evidence of the plaintiff alone, (Code, § 2222,) and therefore it follows that she is not entitled to relief in this action. There is at least some doubt whether the statute has any application to an action of this character; but, conceding that it has, we find from the evidence that the [382]*382plaintiff is corroborated to a sufficient extent by the evidence of other witnesses.

8.-: disuites-1 pleading: proof. III. The defendant pleaded that he had been divorced from the plaintiff in Ohio in 1882, and that this case was not tried below until after that time; and counsel for the ' aPPehants insist that this constitutes a bar to any relief in this action. There was no evidence intro! duced to support this defense. On the contrary, the defendant Platner testified that his petition for a divorce in the courts of' Ohio had been dismissed. It is, however, contended that the fact that there was such a divorce is admitted by the pleadings. In the reply the plaintiff stated that the decree referred to in the answer was void for want of jurisdiction, and because obtained by fraud. The reply did not, in terms, admit the existence of the decree; but, if such a decree had been obtained, then the plaintiff, because of the matter pleaded in the reply, sought to avoid the effect of the decree. In such case the pleading was essential, under Code, § 2665. "Whether the plaintiff would have been required to admit or deny the existence of the decree, if a motion for a more specific statement had been filed, we are not required to determine. It is sufficient to say that its existence was not admitted, and therefore the burden ivas on the defendants to establish it.

fraudulent conveyance to evidencestawíshing. IY. The remaining question to be determined is whether the defendant Platner made a fraudulent disposition of certain real estate to his co-defendants, prior to the separation of these parties. In March, 1880, the A ^eSa^ title to the real estate was in the plaintiff, few ¿ayS prior to that time the defendant Platner induced the plaintiff to sign and acknowledge two deeds, in which there was a blank left for the name of a grantee.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Garberson v. Garberson
82 F. Supp. 706 (N.D. Iowa, 1949)
Avery v. Avery
17 N.W.2d 820 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1945)
Bartlett v. Bartlett
243 N.W. 588 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1932)
Poole v. Poole
150 P. 592 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1915)
Walker v. Walker
102 N.W. 435 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1905)
Smith v. McQuiston
79 N.W. 130 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1899)
In re Popejoy
26 Colo. 32 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1899)
Cochran v. Cochran
60 N.W. 942 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1894)
Simpson v. Simpson
59 N.W. 22 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1894)
Day v. Mill-Owners' Mutual Fire Insurance
38 N.W. 113 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1888)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
23 N.W. 764, 66 Iowa 378, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/platner-v-platner-iowa-1885.