Willbrook v. Worten

1929 OK 247, 278 P. 388, 137 Okla. 148, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 415
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 11, 1929
Docket20171
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 1929 OK 247 (Willbrook v. Worten) 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
Willbrook v. Worten, 1929 OK 247, 278 P. 388, 137 Okla. 148, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 415 (Okla. 1929).

Opinion

ANDREWS, J.

The facts disclosed by the record in this case are as follows:

The plaintiff, a resident of Creek county, and Margaret Willbrook, a resident of Osage county, are husband and wife. The plaintiff filed a suit for divorce from his wife in the superior court of Creek county, Bristow division. His wife appeared in person and by her attorney and filed an answer and cross-petition alleging that she was without means of support and praying alimony and separate maintenance, including temporary alimony and attorney fees. Thereafter and while that cause was pending Matagaret Willbrook instituted a suit against the plaintiff in the district court of Osage county for separate' maintenance and alimony, and the district court of Osage county issued an order requiring the plaintiff to paly temporary alimony. The plaintiff appeared in the district court of Osage county and showed that court the condition of the record in the superior court of Creek county, and thereupon the district court of Osage county set aside its temporary order and ordered the defendant to file his answer in the district court of Osage county, which answer was filed in due course. Thereafter Margaret Willbrook, by order of the superior court of Creek county, dismissed her cross-petition in that court, and thereafter the district court of Osage county made another order for temporary alimony and attorney fees. The plaintiff again appeared in the district court of Osage county and moved the vacation of this order for the reason that the cause was pending in the superior court of Creek county upon the plaintiff’s petition and the defendant’s answer. This motion was overruled and plaintiff was given ten days in which to comply with the. order of the district court of Osage county for payment of temporary alimony. Thereupon plaintiff brought this action to prohibit the district court of Osage county from proceeding further in the matter or from enforcing its order.

The defendant herein, for his return to the alternative writ, filed a general demurrer, which was afterward amended by a statement that plaintiff and his wife, prior to their separation, resided in Osage county and that plaintiff abandoned his wife in Osage county and went to Creek county, leaving *149 his wife in Osage county, where she has resided at all times since the abandonment.

The plaintiff submits three questions, the answer to the first of which determines the issues in the case. The others will be disregarded. That question is:

“Can both courts maintain jurisdiction at one and the same time between the same parties, upon the same subject-matter, or does the. court which first acquired jurisdiction of the parties retain that jurisdiction to the exclusion of any other court until final judgment?”

It is the contention of the plaintiff that when his wife appeared in the superior court of Creek county and filed her answer and cross-petition, in which she sought affirmative relief, the superior court of Creek county acquired jurisdiction of the parties which, with its jurisdiction of the subject-matter, gave that court jurisdiction to the exclusion of any other court.

The respondent contends that the divorce action in the superior court of Creek county and the separate maintenance action in the district court of Osage county do not involve the same subject-matter, but present entirely different questions; that the decision in one case will in nowise, affect or determine the decision in the other ease, and that the judgment in one case will be res judicata in the other case.

In support of hisi contention respondent cites the case, of Drummond v. Drummond, 49 Okla. 649, 154 Pac. 514. The fatets in that case are materially different from the facts in this case. It does not appear from that case that both parties had appealed in the same court. In that case each of the parties had instituted a suit for divorce, one in Okmulgee county and one in Oklahoma county. We do not think that that case is an authority on the issues presented by the facts in this ease. There the court held that no such sharp or intolerable conflict had arisen 'between the two district courts as to authorize the issuance of a writ of prohibition, while in this case there is such conflict.

Respondent cites the ease of Bleuer v. Bleuer, 27 Okla. 25, 110 Pac. 736. That case involves an entirely different question from that under consideration here.

Lewis v. Lewis, 39 Okla. 407, 135 Pac. 397, Doggett v. Doggett, 85 Okla. 90, 203 Pac. 223, and Williams v. Williams, 103 Okla. 194, 229 Pac. 797, cited by respondent, are against his contention, and' will be hereinafter considered.

District courts, under section 10, al-t. 7, of the Constitution, have original jurisdiction in all cases except where exclusive jurisdiction is, by the Constitution or by law, conferred on some other court. Under this section the district court of Osage county has jurisdiction in suits for alimony without divorce. Under this section and the statutes creating the court, the superior court of Creek county, Bristow division, has jurisdiction of suits for divorce.

The court having jurisdiction in the divorce action may, under the provisions of section 505, Id., refuse to grant al divorce and may make, equitable and just provision for the control and’ equitable division and disposition of the property of either of the parties to the action. Jones v. Jones, 63 Okla. 208, 164 Pac. 463. An order for temporary support, maintenance, and suit money maty be made pending the. trial under the provisions of section 506, Id. Hunt v. Hunt, 23 Okla. 490, 100 Pac. 541. The court may, when the divorce is granted, make division of the property under section 508, Id. Tobin v. Tobin, 89 Okla. 12, 213 Pac. 884.

The plaintiff in this action was an actual resident of Creek county and had been an atetual resident in good faith of the state of Oklahoma for more than one year prior to filing his petition. The superior court of Creek county, therefore, had' jurisdiction of the subject-matter and could grant or refuse a divorce to the plaintiff or to his wife, grant temporary alimony, attorney fees, and suit money or refuse the same, and could graint permanent alimony or make division of the property. That court had complete authority to settle all of the rights of the parties thereto. When the plaintiff’s wife filed her answer and cross-petition in that case, she submitted herself to the jurisdiction of that court, and from thalt time that court, not only had jurisdiction of the subject-matter, but had jurisdiction of the parties to the suit.

Thereafter the plaintiff’s wife went into the district court of Osage county and filed a suit for alimony without divorce. The plaintiff herein entered a general appearance, alnd thereafter the district court of Osage county had jurisdiction of the subject-matter and the parties to the action.

We have, then, under the facts in this case, this situation:

The superior court of Creek county, with jurisdiction of the subject-matter and of the parties, has ample authority to grant a divorce to the plaintiff, to allow his wife *150 temporary alimony, attorney fees, and other relief, and, whether or not the divorce is granted, to grant her alimony or provide for an equitable division of the property.

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Bluebook (online)
1929 OK 247, 278 P. 388, 137 Okla. 148, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/willbrook-v-worten-okla-1929.