Clark v. Graves

• Citation: 282 S.W.2d 146
• Parties: Mary Elizabeth Graves CLARK, Appellant, v. Sterling E. GRAVES, Appellee.
• Decision Date: 27 May 1955
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (Kentucky)

Page 146

282 S.W.2d 146

Mary Elizabeth Graves CLARK, Appellant, v. Sterling E. GRAVES, Appellee.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

May 27, 1955.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 14, 1955.

Joseph S. Freeland, Paducah, for appellant.

Andrew J. Palmer, Paducah, for appellee.

SIMS, Judge.

This is a motion for an appeal from a judgment relieving a divorced father from the support of his 18 year old son.

The trial judge found as a fact that the son was 18 years of age, which was not disputed, and further found the boy was self-supporting and then concluded as a matter of law the father should be relieved of an agreed judgment entered two years previously that he should pay the divorced mother $50 per month for the support of the son.

It will be of help in reaching a solution of this case to give briefly the factual background of the parties and their son. Mr. and Mrs. Graves were married in 1934, and their son, John William Graves, was born October 17, 1935. In 1941, the mother secured a divorce from the father on the ground of abandonment and was given custody of the boy, who was then 6 years old. No alimony was awarded her nor was any allowance made for the child, we suppose because the father was proceeded against as a non-resident.

Each party subsequently remarried but the record does not show the date of their respective remarriages. The mother filed a motion that the father be made to contribute to his son's support and on April 13, 1948, an order was made that beginning on May 10th the father pay $25 per month for the support of his son, and the case was continued on the docket of the McCracken Circuit Court for further orders pertaining to the custody and support of the child. On December 1, 1950, the mother filed a petition stating the father had inherited $10,000, owned a Mercury automobile worth $2,500, had been the recipient of an allowance of $30 per month paid him under a 'Veterans' Educational Program' for the boy, and the husband was then earning $100 per week. An agreed judgment was entered on February 11, 1952, ordering the father to pay $50 a month for the support of the boy from February, 1952, until further ordered.

On September 1, 1953, the father filed a petition averring that his son would be 18 years of age on October 17, 1953; that conditions had changed since the agreed allowance of $50 per month was made and the boy was then regularly employed and an order should be made reducing the payments to $25 per month. The mother answered the father's petition averring his income had increased; that their son had won a scholarship to Notre Dame University and it will be necessary for him to continue to receive the allowance from his father in order to continue his education.

Proof was taken by depositions and it was shown the father's 'take home pay' was about $420 per month. It was not shown that he and his present wife have any children or other dependents. Mr. Graves testified he applied his inheritance (the amount of it not being stated by him) on the purchase of a home upon which he is still paying at the rate of $60 per month; that the expense on his automobile, which he used in riding to work, was $40 per month; that he had a hospital bill upon which he still owes of about $160 and he needs a hemorrhoid operation for which he says he has no money to pay. He lists certain incidental expenses, such as union dues of $48 per year, church dues of $20 per month, and other items, and says his total monthly expenses are $314 not including his groceries. He further testified work was slowing up in the Paducah area and he feared it would not be long before his job ended. He also stated his son earned $36.94 a week during the summer in the Riverside Hospital when not...