Wilson v. Wilson

197 N.W.2d 589, 1972 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 829
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 11, 1972
Docket54949
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 197 N.W.2d 589 (Wilson v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Wilson, 197 N.W.2d 589, 1972 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 829 (iowa 1972).

Opinion

LeGRAND, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree granting plaintiff a divorce under Chapter 598, The Code, 1966. The decree also settled the property rights of the parties and awarded plaintiff alimony in the amount of $1500.00 payable over a two-and-one-half-year period.

Defendant challenges both the granting of the divorce and the financial advantages accruing to plaintiff under its terms. We affirm the trial court.

Plaintiff’s action was filed, tried, and decided under chapter 598, The Code, 1966. While the case was pending, this chapter was repealed and supplanted by the new Dissolution of Marriage Act. (Chapter 1266, Acts of the Sixty-third G.A., Second Session.) This legislation now appears as chapter 598 in the 1971 Code.

The entry of a decree under the provisions of chapter 598, The Code, 1966, forms the basis for defendant’s first proposition for reversal. He argues the trial court was stripped of jurisdiction to proceed under the repealed statute after the effective date of the new law. We dispose of this issue before reaching the other two matters upon which defendant relies.

I. The status of actions for divorce pending under the repealed chapter when the Dissolution of Marriage Act became effective is one of legislative intent. We discussed this matter in Garrison v. Garrison, 179 N.W.2d 466, 468 (Iowa 1970), although it was not determinative in that case.

However, what we said in Garrison is significant here and strongly suggests the conclusion we believe to be inescapable:

“Ordinarily when a law is repealed without reenactment in substantially the same terms, absent a saving clause or general statute limiting the effect of such repeal, the rescinded act is operationally deemed to have never existed. * * *
“Although, as aforesaid, H.F. 1156, supra [later enacted as chapter 1266, Acts of the Sixty-third G.A.], repeals Code chapter 598, it apparently contains no express savings clause. On the other hand zve do have a general savings act relative to any rights accrued, or any proceedings commenced under a repealed lazsv. Section 4.1(1), Code, 1966. See also In re Incorporation of Town of Avon Lake, 249 Iowa 1112, 1116-1117, 88 N.W.2d 784, and Grant v. Norris, 249 Iowa 236, 245-247, 85 N.W.2d 261.” (Emphasis added.) (179 N.W.2d at 468.)

*592 The pertinent portion of section 4.1(1), Code of 1966, referred to in the above quotation sets out the following rule:

“In the construction of the statutes, the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the general assembly, or repugnant to the context of the statute:
“1. Repeal — effect of. The repeal of a statute does not revive a statute previously repealed, nor affect any right which has accrued, any duty imposed, any penalty incurred, or any proceeding commenced, under or by virtue of the statute repealed.”

This rule of construction must be read also in relation to section S98.33, The Code of 1971 (the new Dissolution of Marriage Act) which stipulates:

“Any cause of action pending upon July 1, 1970 [the effective date of the new act] which may be affected by this chapter, may be decided pursuant to the provisions of this chapter if both parties to the action so agree.”

It was clearly the legislative intent that actions pending under our old divorce statute (chapter 598, The Code, 1966) at the time the new Dissolution of Marriage Act became effective should be prosecuted to completion under the law as it existed when the action was commenced unless the parties agreed to proceed under the new act. Where, as here, the parties did not so agree, the trial court properly treated the case as one to be tried and determined under chapter 598 of the 1966 Code.

II. Defendant next urges upon us the argument that there is insufficient evidence to prove either of plaintiff’s two grounds for divorce. His most serious complaint in this regard is his insistence that there was no corroborating evidence upon which the trial court could have based its decree. Without corroboration, of course, a divorce may not be granted. Section 598.7, The Code, 1966; Erickson v. Erickson, 261 Iowa 264, 269, 154 N.W.2d 106, 110 (1967).

Plaintiff set out two grounds for divorce —cruel and inhuman treatment and adultery. Both concern defendant’s conduct with the “other woman.” Except for this, plaintiff concedes that defendant was a model husband. He was a good provider and treated her well. She alleges no physical abuse, and there is none of the usual incompatibility which characterizes most divorce actions. If she is entitled to a divorce, it must be because she has proven her contention that defendant’s conduct amounted to either cruel and inhuman treatment or adultery.

Like the trial court, we hold she has shown herself entitled to a divorce on both grounds. It would serve no useful purpose to detail the evidence which we believe justified the trial court in reaching this conclusion. At best divorce cases furnish little by way of precedent. As pointed out in Kayser v. Kayser, 164 N.W.2d 95, 101 (Iowa 1969) and the authority there cited, each case must necessarily depend upon its own facts. Of course, this is even more true of the present controversy because it was decided under the provisions of a statute now inoperative. Nothing we say here would be helpful in future cases seeking the termination of an unsatisfactory marriage under the new no-fault concept of our Dissolution of Marriage Act. We therefore limit ourselves to saying we find compelling evidence, adequately corroborated, to support plaintiff’s petition.

We have held one may be guilty of cruel and inhuman treatment such as to endanger life without physical violence and that the conduct of the spouse toward another person of the opposite sex, even though it falls short of adultery, may justify a divorce. Arnold v. Arnold, 257 Iowa 429, 434-435, 133 N.W.2d 53, 57 (1965) and citations.

*593 We have also held adultery may be established by circumstantial evidence if the evidence is such that it leads naturally and fairly to a conclusion of guilt and is inconsistent with any theory of innocence. Kayser v. Kayser, supra, 164 N.W.2d at 101-103; Kaduce v. Kaduce, 176 N.W.2d 779, 781 (Iowa 1970), and citations.

The record before us establishes both grounds alleged by plaintiff.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Marriage of Short
263 N.W.2d 720 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1978)
In re the Marriage of McBee
244 N.W.2d 327 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1976)
In Re Marriage of Gudenkauf
204 N.W.2d 586 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
197 N.W.2d 589, 1972 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 829, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-wilson-iowa-1972.