Whiteker v. Whiteker

1958 OK 284, 332 P.2d 953, 1958 Okla. LEXIS 469
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 2, 1958
Docket38087
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1958 OK 284 (Whiteker v. Whiteker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whiteker v. Whiteker, 1958 OK 284, 332 P.2d 953, 1958 Okla. LEXIS 469 (Okla. 1958).

Opinion

CARLILE, Justice.

This is an appeal by Jack Whiteker from a judgment of the District Court of Creek County granting Berta L. Whiteker a divorce from him by reason of his fault and awarding her alimony and a division of property.

The plaintiff in error, who was defendant in the trial court, does not question or challenge the validity of the judgment vacating and dissolving the marital relationship between the parties but complains only of the amount of property awarded plaintiff and argues that the award in her favor is inequitable and excessive. The defendant in error filed a motion to dismiss this appeal on the ground that the defendant married after the expiration of the six months following the divorce decree and had accepted the property awarded him by the trial court and was thereby estopped from asserting the invalidity of the judgment and waived his right of appeal.

The motion to dismiss was denied on April 15, 1958 and the merits of the motion and its application is again urged in the answer brief of the defendant in error but we find no reason to depart from our previous ruling denying the motion. The parties will be referred to here as they appeared in the trial court.

The record shows the following facts or circumstances leading up to the divorce decree: At the time of their marriage in March, 1946, both plaintiff and defendant were residents of the City of Bristow and each had been married previously, the plaintiff had a daughter by her former husband, the daughter was married at the time the present action was instituted. The plaintiff testified that at the time of her marriage with defendant she had $3,500 in the bank and sold her automobile for an additional sum of $1,500, that she received $135 a month from a trust fund for the support of her daughter, some of which was expended in the operation and repair of the home, that at the time of her marriage the defendant owned a garage apartment (4 *955 lots) for which he paid $3,000, $1,400 of which was paid after the marriage, that they remodeled and refurnished the lower part of the apartment as a living room at a cost of $3,S00, that in 1953 further improvements were made on the building by adding thereto 3 bedrooms with baths, a cooling and heating system and a swimming pool, that a $13,000 loan on the premises was obtained from an investment company to pay some of the costs, $10,700 of which was unpaid at the time the divorce herein was granted, that in addition to the amount owing the investment company they owed $3,000 on a note given to plaintiff’s parents for money used in the building.

The record shows that at the date of their marriage the defendant owned some mineral interests of a limited value and owned the Palace Drug Store in Bristow. He inherited a part of the store from his father in 1937 and the remainder he purchased from other heirs, one witness estimated the store value at $10,000. The defendant owed his former wife $4,600 as alimony payable in monthly installments. The defendant testified that when he married plaintiff he had $18,000 in cash which he kept in a safety deposit box in the Community State Bank in Bristow and said he and his wife used it up during the 3 or 4 years following their marriage. He was asked on cross-examination what he did with the money and he answered “It was spent.” He was asked if he could tell how it was spent and he said “No, I can’t, in the merry-go-round we were on * * * the continuous drinking parties, buying whiskey for everyone in the county.” He said he had the money at the time he borrowed $6,000 from the bank so the drug store would have plenty of checking account while he was on his wedding trip.

The plaintiff testified that defendant never told her he had $18,000 but she said the $6,000 borrowed from the bank was used to pay- accounts owing by the drug store. The plaintiff started working in the drug store within a year following the marriage and continued to do so thereafter. The defendant spent some of his time in the drug store but was absent at times investigating and purchasing mineral rights, mostly out of the state, which produced small income, and for which he paid approximately $30,-000.

In March, 1955 the parties entered into a written agreement whereby they became equal and joint owners and operators of the Bristow drug store. On April 7, 1955 the Bristow store was completely destroyed by fire, it was covered by a $44,000 insurance policy, the loss was settled during the pendency of this action by the payment of $40,000 and one half of the sum, $20,000, was awarded each of the parties. There was also a $14,000 business-interruption policy on the Bristow store. The parties borrowed $10,000 from a Bristow bank with which to purchase a stock of drugs and moved in some store equipment which was formerly used in one of the stores in Tulsa and the Bristow store was reopened for business.

In September, 1955, the parties purchased a drug store in Tulsa for which they paid $24,000 and borrowed the money to do so. The store was incorporated and the plaintiff held 90% of the stock. In July, 1956, a second drug store in Tulsa was purchased by the defendant, Jack Whiteker, for which he gave his personal notes to the store creditors in the amount of $22,000. That store was incorporated and defendant retained eight shares of the stock, the plaintiff one share and a Mr. Loeffler one qualifying share. After the purchase of the second store in Tulsa, the defendant spent most of his time there and about January or February, 1957, the parties ceased living together as man and wife.

On August 23, 1957, the trial court granted plaintiff a divorce and adjudged and decreed that she have as alimony and as her share of the division of the property, the home of the parties in Bristow, all the assets of the drug store in Bristow, all of the stock of the first drug store purchased by the parties in Tulsa, known as Owl Drug No. 2, one half of the proceeds, $20,000, *956 collected on the fire insurance policy covering the Bristow store, the $14,000 insurance policy against business interruption of the Bristow store, a Packard automobile valued at $300, 'a.%2nd overriding royalty interest in an oil and gas lease on 80 acres, in Creek County and an interest in two oil and gas leases in Wheeler County, Texas. In awarding the described property, the Court adjudged and decreed that the plaintiff assume, pay and hold the defendant harmless from all liability of the Tulsa Owl Drug Store No. 2, including but not limited to a $4,600 note owing the Community State Bank of Bristow, and a $14,000 note owing Mr. and Mrs. Trowbridge (plaintiff’s parents), that plaintiff assume, pay and hold the defendant harmless from all debts or obligations owed by the drug store at Bris-tow, including but not limited to $10,000 owed the Community State Bank, and accounts payable in the sum of $18,759 and ordered and decreed that plaintiff assume and pay the balance upon the mortgage covering the home property. The evidence shows that there was some indebtedness owing by the Bristow store to Owl Drug Store No. 3 in Tulsa for used store fixtures and for cash, which indebtedness the Court ordered cancelled.

The defendant, Jack Whiteker, was awarded as his separate property, free and clear of all claims of the plaintiff, all the capital stock of Jack Whiteker Owl Drug, Inc., known as Owl Drug Store No. 3 of Tulsa. He was directed to hold. plaintiff harmless against all debts and liabilities .of that store.

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Bluebook (online)
1958 OK 284, 332 P.2d 953, 1958 Okla. LEXIS 469, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whiteker-v-whiteker-okla-1958.