Senor v. Senor

272 A.D.2d 306

This text of 272 A.D.2d 306 (Senor v. Senor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Senor v. Senor, 272 A.D.2d 306 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinions

Peck, J.

Plaintiff sues for a declaratory judgment that defendant is her husband and that a separation agreement and [309]*309decree of divorce entered in the State of Nevada in 1937, are invalid, and upon that declaration for a separation with increased alimony. Defendant successfully moved to dismiss the complaint under rule 107, subdivision 5, of the Rules of Civil Practice, on the ground that the Nevada decree is a final judgment determining the marital status of the parties. The papers on the motion show that the divorce action in Nevada was instituted by plaintiff, that defendant appeared therein, that plaintiff testified as to her residence in Nevada, and that the decree was based on a finding of the Nevada court that plaintiff was a bona fide resident of Nevada, in which place she had her only domicile.

Plaintiff now seeks to have the Nevada decree declared invalid upon allegations in her present complaint that she never became a resident of Nevada and that she was persuaded to institute the action there and to accept the terms of the separation agreement by false representations of the defendant that the amount provided for plaintiff’s support in the separation agreement was reasonable in view of defendant’s financial circumstances.

Under the decision in Schacht v. Schacht (295 N. Y. 439) plaintiff may not attack the separation agreement, incorporated in the Nevada decree, apart from an attack on the decree itself. The allegations of fraud here do not amount to an enticement into Nevada by fraud, coercion or duress which would warrant an attack upon the decree under the decision in Averbuck v. Averbuck (270 App. Div. 116). Therefore, this case squarely raises the question whether a party, who has invoked the jurisdiction of the Nevada court and obtained a divorce upon her oath of residence there and the personal appearance of the other party, may impeach that decree and assert its invalidity in the courts of this State on the ground that the Nevada court did not have jurisdiction to enter the decree because she was not a bona fide resident of Nevada.

This court, in Frost v. Frost (260 App. Div. 694) passed on the correlative question of the right of the other party to challenge the decree entered upon his personal appearance, saying: “ It [the Nevada court] had jurisdiction over the person of the plaintiff in that action (the defendant here) in consequence of the complaint which she had filed. It had jurisdiction over the defendant in that action (the plaintiff here) by his voluntary submission to its jurisdiction by an attorney authorized to appear for him. (Tatum v. Maloney, 226 App. Div. 62.) One of the issues which it was necessary [310]*310to determine in that action was the wife’s residence within ttie State, and that issue the Nevada court decided in her favor. The question of her residence could have been litigated by the husband had he desired to litigate it then. That he did not do. Not having done so, the determination is as conclusive upon him as the determination of any other issue of fact. (Hunt v. Hunt, 72 N. Y. 217; Pray v. Hegeman, 98 id. 351.) He may not now assert that the issue of residence was not correctly determined on account of an imposition practiced by the defendant on the Nevada court or on account of collusion of the parties. (Glaser v. Glaser, 276 N. Y. 296; Tiedemann v. Tiedemann, 225 id. 709.) The fraud of which he complains was fraud perpetrated on the Nevada court in respect to the very issue which was submitted for determination. Against fraud of that character courts of other States do not accord relief, even if it be assumed that relief is available at all. (Arcuri v. Arcuri, 265 N. Y. 358; Kinnier v. Kinnier [45 N. Y. 535], supra; Crouse v. McVickar, 207 N. Y. 213. See, also, Jacobowitz v. Herson, 268 id. 130.) ”

Obviously, if the decree is binding on the defendant in the divorce proceeding, it is binding on the plaintiff who instituted the action. The question here thus becomes whether, by virtue of subsequent decisions of the Court of Appeals or reconsideration of the problems involved, we should reach a different conclusion ■ from that reached in Frost v. Frost (260 App. Div. 694, supra). •'

No decision of the Court of Appeals has passed squarely on the issue. Krause v. Krause (282 N. Y. 355) held that a party who had procured a Nevada divorce, void because he at all times remained a resident of this State, was estopped from asserting the invalidity of that divorce in an action brought by his second wife for separation and support. Querze v. Querze (290 N. Y. 13) and Vose v. Vose (280 N. Y. 779) held that a Mexican mail-order decree of divorce had no effect upon the right of either spouse to a full adjudication in our courts upon the question of the existing marital status. Matter of Lindgren (293 N. Y. 18) held that a foreign decree of divorce, void, though entered upon the appearance of both parties, because neither was a domiciliary of the foreign State, was open to attack by a third party, being a child of the parties, although the parties to the decree themselves might not attack it.

Jurisdiction of a court to entertain a divorce action and render a binding decree therein must rest on a broader base [311]*311than jurisdiction over the person of the parties. A requisite is jurisdiction over the marital res, in which the State as well as the parties has an interest. The authority of a court to dissolve the marriage band, therefore, must rest upon the authority of the State over the marriage, requiring that at least one of the parties be a domiciliary of that State. (Williams v. North Carolina, 325 U. S. 226, 229.)

A decree of divorce entered by a court which does not have jurisdiction over the marital res, because neither party is a domiciliary of the State, is not valid, even though both parties have attended and submitted their persons to the jurisdiction of the court. Such a decree is not entitled to full faith and credit and is, therefore, subject to collateral attack in another State. (Andrews v. Andrews, 188 U. S. 14; Williams v. North Carolina, supra.) This does not mean, however, that a collateral attack must be entertained and may freely be made by the parties whenever it suits their convenience. Rather, the law is that whether or not the attack may be made depends upon the public policy of the home State in which the attack is sought to be made. (Andrews v. Andrews, supra.) The parties themselves have forfeited their say in the matter, but the interest of the State remains to be expressed at its will. It is for the State then to say whether and by whom an attack shall be permitted. The attack which was permitted by a party to the decree and sustained in Andrews v. Andrews (supra) was based upon the public policy of the State of Massachusetts, as expressed in its statute, that the commonwealth would not recognize divorces obtained by its inhabitants who go into another State to obtain a divorce for a 'cause which would not authorize a divorce by the laws of Massachusetts.

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272 A.D.2d 306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/senor-v-senor-nyappdiv-1947.