Smith v. Smith

71 S.E. 158, 136 Ga. 197, 1911 Ga. LEXIS 481
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided April 14, 1911·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

Holden, J.

Tlie plaintiff in error was sued for a divorce and alimony, temporary and permanent. The petition was brought in the superior court of Fulton county, and alleged the defendant (plaintiff in error here) to be a resident of that county. At the second trial, for final divorce and permanent alimony, the court allowed a plea of the defendant, striking the paragraph in his original answer wherein he had admitted himself to be a resident of Fulton county, and setting up that at the time the original petition was filed he did not reside in that county, and therefore that the trial court had no jurisdiction of the suit. The trial resulted in a verdict in. favor of the wife for divorce and permanent alimony; the defendant moved for a new trial, which was denied, and he excepted. All the special assignments of error are based on the contention of the defendant that his legal residence was not in Fulton county. The evidence on the question of the defendant’s residence was in substance as follows. The plaintiff testified: “We separated Sept. 8, 1907. At the time of the separation we were living at West End in the city of Atlanta, in Fulton county, Georgia. Since Sept. 8th, 1907, we have been living apart and in a state of separation. . . On Nov.' 28th, 1907, I saw J. Horace Smith [the defendant] in West End, where we had lived. Some of the property was there intact. I also called up Mr. Smith in West End, and he answered the ’phone. I called up a residence on the opposite side of the street over the ’phone, and Mr. Smith answered. . . Mr. Smith’s father lived at Clarkston in DeKalb county. I am certain of the date of the separation. At that time we were living in West End. From the time of the separation till the trial of the temporary alimony matter here, I saw Mr. Smith [198] in passing. He stayed at Ms father’s, and passed my door twice a day. I don’t know whether I saw him every day during that time; probably some days I happened to be where I could not see him. I would see him pass my house every day. He was working in Atlanta. After the separation he went to his father’s and stayed there at night. He was down there at the time this suit was filed, and he was there at the time of the hearing of the temporary alimony.” J. L. Smith testified: “I am the father of the defendant in this ease, J. Horace Smith, and live in DeKalb county, Clarkston, Georgia. I have been living there seven years. I remember the time the suit was filed for divorce and alimony by Mittie L. Smith against J. Horace Smith. At that time my son was staying at my house in Clarkston, DeKalb county, Georgia. He went back and forward every day to his work. He stayed at my house. He had a contract with me for board during that time. When this suit was filed he had been staying at my house for about a month. Prior to vthat time he and his wife resided in Atlanta. They lived,in West End a month or such a matter. . . Prior to that time they lived in Decatur. Prior to that time they lived at Edgewood and also Kirkwood in DeKalb county. The time I have mentioned as my son’s having lived in West End is the only time my son ever stayed or lived in Pulton county. All the rest of the time he lived in DeKalb county. The separation was about the first of September. After the separation Mr. Smith’s household furniture and goods was most of it in DeKalb county, at a friend of his house, a man named Floyd, just across the line in DeKalb county. Some of the other part of his property was stored somewhere, I don’t know where. Probably some of it was where they lived in West End. . . When my son was living at my house, his wife and family was living right there at Clarkston; she was staying with her father. She was living there at the time my son came to stay with me. My son and his wife were living at West End when they separated. After the separation his wife lived at Clarkston. I think a month is about all the time they lived at West End.” The witness further testified that his son came to his house the first of September, and stayed 2 or 3 months. The witness was present at the hearing for temporary alimony after the 8th of October. His son “did not leave the State right straight;” he worked at Rhodes-Haverty the whole month of October, and worked there in November, 190?', [199] and until he left Atlanta. Another witness testified, that he lived in DeKalb county; that from about the first of September until the latter part of October he saw the defendant passing his house; that he saw him about every morning going to the train, and saw him in the afternoon coming back, until it got dark. On cross-examination he testified: “I am not positive of the particular month in 1907. It was along in September, October, or November. . . The last time I saw him was in November, as he went past.” Another witness testified that he lived in Clarkston and saw the defendant while he was staying there with his father, going backward and forward to town to work. This was in September, as well as the witness could recollect. He saw him after September about the first of October. “It was in the latter part of October and November. I can’t indicate the particular time in September. '. I don’t remember whether it was the first or the last.” The plaintiff, recalled, testified that she and the defendant moved to West End February 22, 1907, and were living there on the date of the separation. The suit was filed September 25th, 1907.

1. Error is assigned on the failure of the court to charge the provisions of section 2181 of the Civil Code (1910), and especially on the failure of the court to charge the second and last sentence thereof. The provisions of that section are as follows: “The domicile of every person of full age, and laboring under no disability, is the place where the family of such person shall permanently reside, if in this State. If he has no family, or they do not reside in this State, then the place where such person shall generally lodge shall be considered' his domicile.” There was evidence to the effect that the plaintiff and the defendant separated as husband and wife on the 8th day of September, 1907, while residing in Fulton county, and that after the separation the defendant continued to work in Atlanta, but boarded with his father in DeKalb county until several weeks after the suit for divorce was filed on September 25th, 1907. After the defendant separated from his wife, with whom the children of the marriage remained, his place of residence would have to be determined as if he were “a person having no family.” Gilmer v. Gilmer, 32 Ga. 685. We think, Therefore, the last sentence in the code section above quoted, that “If he has no family, . then the place where such person shall generally lodge shall be considered his domicile,” should have been given in charge to [200] the jury. The court nowhere gave this principle in charge, and we think it was error for the court to fail to charge the jury as above stated. '

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Smith v. Smith, 71 S.E. 158, 136 Ga. 197, 1911 Ga. LEXIS 481 (Ga. 1911).

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