Schreiner v. Schreiner

502 S.W.2d 840, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2593
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 7, 1973
Docket15221
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 502 S.W.2d 840 (Schreiner v. Schreiner) 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
Schreiner v. Schreiner, 502 S.W.2d 840, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2593 (Tex. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

KLINGEMAN, Justice.

Appellant, Audrey Phillips Schreiner, appeals from the judgment entered after a nonjury trial granting her a divorce, awarding custody of two minor children to her, providing for child support payments of $200 per month for each child, granting her attorney’s fees in the amount of $60,000 and other expenses incident to said divorce suit, and making a partition and division of the property of the parties. The original petition for divorce was filed by Charles Schreiner, III, the appellee herein, in Kerr County, Texas, on September 1, 1970; and judgment was signed and entered on March 2, 1973. The trial court filed extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law. 1 Appellant is sometimes *842 herein referred to as respondent, and ap-pellee, as petitioner.

By four points of error, appellant asserts that the trial court did not have jurisdiction and venue over this divorce proceeding in Kerr County, Texas. We first consider these points of error. 2

Appellee’s petition for divorce was filed on September 1, 1970. Section 3.21 of the Texas Family Code, V.T.C.A. *843 (effective January 1, 1970) provides that no suit for divorce shall be maintained unless at the time the suit is filed the petitioner has been a domiciliary of this state for the preceding twelve-month period, and a resident of the county in which the suit is filed for the preceding six-month period. Section 3.21 of the Texas Family Code substantially follows the language of Article 4631, Vernon’s Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann., its predecessor, with the principal distinction being the substitution of the word “domiciliary” for the word “inhabitant.” 3 Under the record in this case, we do not deem the change in wording of any particular significance, and as appellant points out in her brief, it has always been the law in this state that to secure a divorce, you must be both a domiciliary of the state for a period of twelve months, and a resident of the county for the preceding six months. 4

The provisions of the residency statute are not jurisdictional, but merely provide the necessary residential qualifications for bringing an action for divorce. Aucutt v. Aucutt, 122 Tex. 518, 62 S.W.2d 77 (1933) ; Simonsen v. Simonsen, 414 S.W. 2d 54 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amarillo 1967, no writ); Nowell v. Nowell, 408 S.W.2d 550 (Tex.Civ.App.—Dallas 1966, writ dism’d, cert. denied 389 U.S. 847, 88 S.Ct. 53, 19 L.Ed.2d 116 [1967]); Perusse v. Perusse, 402 S.W.2d 931 (Tex.Civ.App.—El Paso 1966, no writ); Ingram v. Ingram, 380 S.W.2d 666 (Tex.Civ.App.—Dallas 1964, writ dism’d); Meyer v. Meyer, 361 S.W.2d 935 (Tex.Civ.App.—Austin 1962, writ dism’d). The question of residency as a qualification for maintaining a divorce suit is a fact issue to be determined by the trial court, and the trial court’s findings will not be disturbed on appeal unless there is a clear abuse of discretion. Stacy v. Stacy, 480 S.W.2d 479 (Tex.Civ.App.—Waco 1972, no writ); Meyer v. Meyer, supra; Earhart v. Earhart, 358 S.W.2d 878 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1962, no writ) ; Vinson v. Vinson, 340 S.W.2d 562 (Tex.Civ.App.—Waco 1960, no writ).

It is to be remembered that in the judgment here involved, appellant, Mrs. Schrei-ner, was given a divorce from appellee. By the points of error here now under consideration, she now complains of the judgment granting the divorce. At no time, either prior to or during the trial, was any question ever raised as to the lack of jurisdiction of the trial court of Kerr County to consider and grant the divorce. The residential qualifications of appellee were never raised nor controverted by appellant by any pleading. In fact, prior to the trial of the case, appellant filed a pleading styled “RESPONDENT’S FIRST SUPPLEMENTAL ANSWER AND ALTERNATE PLEADING,” in which pleading, among other things, she pled, “Alternatively, Respondent avers that if the Court determines that a decree of divorce should be entered that said decree should grant the divorce in favor of Respondent against Petitioner on the grounds of Petitioner’s adulterous relationship with Pat Lopez and other acts of cruelty by Petitioner as set forth in Sections 3.03 and 3.02 *844 of the Family Code.” During cross-examination during the trial, appellant testified, “In the event you grant the divorce I ask that you do it in my behalf because of said, ‘Lopez,’ and cruelty, and desertion which I have endured. That is what I ask.”

In Prendergast v. Prendergast, 122 S. W.2d 710 (Tex.Civ.App. — Galveston 1938, no writ), the husband sued for divorce in Galveston County, Texas, and the wife filed a cross-action. Judgment was entered granting the wife a divorce, awarding the care and custody of one minor child to the wife, and another minor child to the husband. The wife contended on appeal that the record did not affirmatively show that testimony was adduced at the trial to show that the husband had been an actual bona fide inhabitant of Texas for more than twelve months and had resided in Galveston County, Texas, for more than six months next preceding the filing of the suit for divorce; and that this was fundamental error. The appellate court held that, appellant (wife) having answered the allegations of the husband’s petition, and having invoked the jurisdiction of the court by filing a cross-action seeking affirmative relief, the district court of Galveston County, in which such case was originally filed, had jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter of the suit, and that appellant (wife) is not now in any position to complain of the action of the trial court in this respect.

In Aucutt v. Aucutt, supra, Mabel Au-cutt instituted suit in the district court of Lubbock County, Texas, against John W. Aucutt to obtain a divorce and to have a contract for settlement of property confirmed. The husband filed an answer and a cross-action seeking a divorce against his wife. In such cross-action, the husband did not allege that he had been an actual bona fide inhabitant of the state of Texas, nor that he had resided in Lubbock County for the required period of time. The wife, sometime thereafter, took a nonsuit. The husband proceeded to trial on the cross-action; and after a hearing, judgment was entered for the husband granting a divorce against plaintiff. The wife contended that the judgment was void because the court was without jurisdiction to hear and determine the cause, since the wife had taken a nonsuit, and the husband did not allege, nor did he prove, that he was a resident of Lubbock County, Texas, for the required period of time.

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Bluebook (online)
502 S.W.2d 840, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2593, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schreiner-v-schreiner-texapp-1973.