Bennett v. Bennett

• Decision Date: 28 October 1925
• Docket Number: No. 16398.,16398.
• Parties: BENNETT v. BENNETT et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

318 Ill. 193

149 N.E. 292

BENNETT

v.BENNETT et al.

No. 16398.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 28, 1925.

Bill by Elsie L. Bennett against Ralph S. Bennett and another for divorce and other relief. From orders dissolving a temporary injunction, dismissing bill, and denying motions for rehearing, and for allowance of suit money and solicitor's fees, complainant appeals.

Cause transferred to Appellate Court for Third District.Appeal from Circuit Court, Christian County; William B. Wright, judge.

Leslie J. Taylor, of Taylorville, for appellant.

H. B. Hershey and C. J. Vogelsang, both of Taylorville, for appellees.

DE YOUNG, J.

On December 21, 1923, Elsie L. Bennett filed her bill for divorce and other relief against Ralph S. Bennett, her husband, the State Bank of Blue Mound, and Alice S. Bennett, in the circuit court of Christian county. Complainant alleged that she was married to Ralph S. Bennett on December 27, 1921; that he had been guilty of extreme and repeated cruelty, specifying at least five different acts; that her husband was possessed of certain personal property; that until December 13, 1923, he also owned an undivided one-fourth interest in 200 acres of land in Christian county which he had inherited from his father, who died on September 7, 1923; that the land was subject to an incumbrance and the right of dower of Alice S. Bennett, the mother of complainant's husband, and that no proceedings had been taken to assign dower or for partition; that after one of his acts of cruelty on December 6, 1923, her husband sought a reconciliation, and represented to her that he had leased 190 acres of land for the season of 1924-25 and that they would move to that farm to establish a home there; that, confiding in her husband, she accompanied him on December 13, 1923, to the office of certain attorneys in the city of Decatur, who represented her husband and his mother, and was there induced to join with him in a deed conveying to his mother his one-quarter interest in the 200 acres of land he had inherited, by the promise that the proceeds of the sale, $3,000, would by used by her husband and herself to conduct and operate the farm he had recently leased; that complainant was without independent counsel when she executed the deed, and that her husband immediately put the consideration for the conveyance beyond her reach; that, after making the deed, her husband began a system of abuse and exhibitions of temper and violence in an effort to drive her away; that she refused to leave and endeavored to prevail upon him to keep his promise; that he then became violently angry, and on December 19, 1923, dragged her from the seat of an automobile, threw her to the ground, and broke her ribs; that he directed her to leave their home and told her he would not live with her any longer and refused to support her; that the conveyance by her husband to his mother was colorable, merely, and was made for the purpose of depriving complainant of her rights in the land; that the land was worth about $225 and acre and was conveyed for a consideration considerably less than its actual value; that the conveyance was not made in good faith and that Alice S. Bennett holds title to the land in trust for complainant's husband; that her husband had funds on deposit in the State Bank of Blue Mound, and that he intended to convert all his property into money and continue his abandonment of complainant and leave her without any means of support; that she had no means other than her wearing apparel and personal property of the value of $125; and that her husband would dispose of all his property to defeat complainant's rights unless restrained by injunction. The prayer was for divorce, alimony, and solicitor's fees, the setting aside of the conveyance from Ralph S. Bennett to Alice S. Bennett, and an injunction restraining Alice S. Bennett from disposing of the interest of Ralph S. Bennett in the land, the State Bank of Blue Mound from honoring any checks upon the husband's account, and all the defendants from assigning, transferring, or disposing of any of the property of Ralph S. Bennett.

Upon the filing of the bill a temporary injunction was issued. Ralph S. Bennett in his answer specifically denied the acts of cruelty alleged, but charged that the complainant had been guilty of outbursts of temper, denied that he had threatened to sell or dispose of any personal property or to deprivethe complainant of her rights, admitted that he acquired an undivided one-fourth interest in 200...