Chandler v. Chandler

• Decision Date: 29 November 1871
• Citation: 24 Mich. 176
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Parties: Julia M. Chandler v. Robert G. Chandler

24 Mich. 176

Julia M. Chandler v. Robert G. Chandler

Supreme Court of Michigan

November 29, 1871

Heard November 3, 1871

Appeal in chancery from Branch circuit.

In August, 1868, the circuit court for the county of Branch in chancery, in a suit between Julia M. Chandler and Robert G Chandler, rendered a decree dissolving the marriage between the parties, committing the custody of their infant child to the mother, and directing the payment by the father of a weekly allowance for its maintenance. In January, 1871, the defendant, Robert G. Chandler, field his petition, under the provisions of §§ 3238 and 3249 of the Comp. Laws for a revision and alteration of the decree relative to custody and maintenance of the child. Upon the hearing the circuit court directed a modification of the original decree and the cause is brought into this court by the appeal of the complainant.

Decree reversed; petition denied, and Mrs. Chandler recovered her costs, in this proceedings, of both courts.

Shipman & Loveridge, for the defendant petitioner.

L. T N. Wilson and Moore & Griffin, for complainant.

OPINION

Graves, J.

This is an appeal by Mrs. Chandler from a decree altering so much of a former decree, dissolving the marriage of the parties, as related to the "care, custody and maintenance" of their infant child, Robert T. Chandler. The first decree, which was made in August, 1868, on the complaint of Mrs. Chandler, dissolved the marriage for extreme cruelty practised by defendant, as stated in the decree itself, and ordered that complainant should have the "exclusive care, custody, control and education" of the child, who was then about two and a half years old, and that for his support, maintenance and education the defendant should pay to the register of the court the sum of five dollars each week until further order. The defendant took no appeal from this decree, and has neither paid or been asked to pay the weekly allowance, and from the time it was granted to the present, the child has remained in the custody of the mother and been supported by her father.

In January, 1871, the defendant petitioned the court, under § 3238, Comp. L., for an alteration of that part of the decree relating to custody and allowance, but made no proof beyond the petition. The petition was met by two affidavits made by Mrs. Chandler's father.

The main facts set forth by the petition, as a ground for relief are in substance, that just before the court made the decree of 1868, an agreement was reached between the parties by which certain specified items of property were set over to Mrs. Chandler in lieu of alimony and for the support of the child, but that the judge, acting upon his own views, inserted the clause for a weekly allowance, without being solicited thereto by complainant; that she, at that time, owned, and still continues to own, certain lands in Missouri of considerable value, while he, the petitioner, was then, and still is, insolvent; that the parents of petitioner possess a comfortable home and are in good...