Blair v. Blair, 53

• Decision Date: 09 January 1952
• Docket Number: No. 53,53
• Parties: BLAIR v. BLAIR.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 9

199 Md. 9

85 A.2d 442

BLAIR v. BLAIR.

No. 53.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Jan. 9, 1952.

Milton Gerson, Cumberland (Harold Naughton, Cumberland, on the brief), for appellant.

Edward J. Ryan, Cumberland (Wm. L. Wilson, Jr., Cumberland, on the brief), for appellee.

Before MARBURY, Chief Judge, and DELAPLAINE, COLLINS, HENDERSON and MARKELL, JJ.

MARBURY, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal by a wife from a decree of divorce a mensa et thoro granted her husband by the Circuit Court for Allegany County. In the decree the custody of an infant child was given to the wife without liability on the part of the husband to contribute toward its support. The chancellor reserved a division of the personal property under Sec. 42A of Article 16 of the Code for subsequent decision, and later decreed that the wife should have the household furniture and the proceeds of the joint bank account, less counsel fees and court costs, and less the amount of $1,172.74. The husband was given the automobile and this sum of $1,172.74 which was to be paid him by the wife. The decision of the court on this last point was based upon its finding that four-sevenths of the deposits in this account were made by her, and three-sevenths by him, and the division was placed upon this basis.

Sec. 42A of Article 16, enacted by Chapter 220 of the Laws of 1947, authorizes a court to hear and determine all questions which may arise between the parties to a divorce proceeding in connection with the ownership of personal property, and to make division of such property, but this authority is confined to cases when a divorce either a mensa et thoro or a vinculo matrimonii has been granted. The primary question before us in this case, therefore, is whether the husband should have been granted a divorce, because if this action was incorrect, then there was no power in the court to pass the further decree dividing the property.

The facts in this case show it not only to have been a marriage contracted in wartime, but also that by apparent agreed and understood intention, it was one of those very modern marriages, of late years quite common, in which both husband and wife continue to be employed outside of the home. These modern marriages have created many new matrimonial problems, and some of the previous rulings, based upon older customs, may be inapplicable to them.

The parties were married on June 19, 1945, when the husband was in the armed forces of the United States, stationed at Bolling Field, Washington, D. C. His entire income was his pay, which was $96 a month. The wife was employed at the Celanese Corporation plant at Amcelle, Allegany County, Maryland, and earned about $225 a month. As soon as they were married, a joint bank account was started, but the parties were unable to live together until October, 1945, when the husband was discharged from the army. He then returned to Allegany County, and lived with his wife at her parents' home until February 1946. During this time, he also worked for the Celanese Corporation. In February, 1946, he enrolled at the University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland, under the G. I. Bill of Rights, and his income became $90 a month. His wife remained in Allegany County and continued to work for the Celanese Corporation. In 1946, the husband also joined in operating a small business on the university campus and received some four hundred-odd dollars from this. He continued to attend the University of Maryland in 1947, and made some six hundred-odd dollars in that year from the store which he operated there. He did the same thing in 1948, earning eight hundred-odd dollars from the store. In the latter part of that year, he worked for the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in Baltimore, and lived at the Y.M.C.A. there. He then earned $250 a month. This continued until July, 1949. From August to December, 1949, he worked for the Hecht Company in Baltimore. When he started to work for this last employer, his wife gave up her job in Allegany County, and came to Baltimore to live with him. In the year 1950, the husband returned to the University of Maryland, and he and his wife started housekeeping in Mt. Rainier, Maryland, which is not far from the University. In June of that year, he went to Frostburg to see his wife who had returned there for a visit to her parents. She then told him she was going to move the furniture to Frostburg and that she was going back to her old job at the Celanese plant. He apparently objected to this, but, on July 19 or 20, 1950, the wife came to Mt. Rainier with her father, and, on the following day, removed the furniture to Frostburg. The husband continued at College Park at summer school until August. He then went to Frostburg and lived with his wife at her parents' home for thirteen days, occupying the same room. On August 17, 1950, the separation occurred, and the decree of the court was based upon this separation.

Before discussing what happened on August 17, 1950, it may be noted that the wife earned after her marriage, $1,101.43 in 1945, $2,304.88 in 1946, $2,758.50 in 1947, and $1,966.49 in 1948. In 1949, she earned $414.00 and received $600 unemployment compensation. In 1949, she worked three weeks in Washington and received $73.99, and, in 1950, until the date of the separation, she earned $412.70. Her total income, therefore, from the date of the marriage to the date of the separation was $9,631.99. It is impossible, and, in view of our conclusion in the case, unnecessary, to audit the bank account of these parties, but apparently deposits were made in it by both of them, and out of it furniture was bought, a car was bought, and legitimate family expenses were paid. At the time of the separation, there was over $4,000 in the bank.

This marriage represents a praiseworthy effort on the part of two people...