Denton v. Denton, s. 3013 and 3053
| Decision Date | 07 December 1962 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 3013 and 3053,s. 3013 and 3053 |
| Citation | 147 So.2d 545 |
| Parties | Darrel W. DENTON, Appellant, v. Mildred DENTON, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Edward C. Flood, Bartow, for appellant.
No brief for appellee.
Darrel W. Denton, defendant below in a divorce case, appeals two post-decretal orders pertaining to child custody and support and the defendant's right of visitation with his children. The final decree granted the divorce and awarded primary custody of the two children to Mildred Denton, the mother and appellee herein. We note with disapproval that no brief has been filed on behalf of the appellee. See Hunt v. Smith, Fla.App.1962, 137 So.2d 232; Nusbaum v. Riskin, Fla.App.1961, 136 So.2d 1.
The defendant at first was ordered to make weekly payments of $25.00 which were later reduced to $17.50 and the defendant allowed Saturday visitation rights. Plaintiff Mildred Denton failed to cooperate with respect to the visitation privileges of the defendant. On May 16, 1961 the defendant sought, by formal petition, cancellation of the support payments so long as the plaintiff frustrated his attempts to visit his children according to the provisions of the order.
After several hearings the chancellor ordered the plaintiff to deliver the children to the defendant in front of plaintiff's dwelling. This also proved ineffectual and the defendant withheld support payments. On November 10, 1961, pending contempt proceedings instituted by the plaintiff, the chancellor terminated the weekly visitation privileges of the defendant and granted him custody of the children only during the summer months. This change was not requested by either party, but the chancellor noted that enforcement of the existing order had not been for the best interest of the children. This order further directed defendant to pay all the arrearage and to continue making weekly payments except during the summer months when the children would be in his custody. The first appeal is from this order.
On December 22, 1961 the plaintiff petitioned for an order adjudging the defendant in contempt for willfully refusing to make support payments. The defendant moved to strike this petition and, on December 27, 1961, the chancellor ordered the defendant to show cause why he should not be adjudged in contempt. This order commented on the various difficulties encountered in the enforcement of the visitation privileges previously decreed. It was these difficulties, together with other considerations, which prompted the chancellor in the order of November 10, 1961 to revise the visitation schedule as indicated. In this respect we find some irregularity of procedure but no abuse of discretion and no fundamental error.
The defendant answered the rule nisi alleging inter alia that the order of November 10, 1961 wrongfully directed him to pay all support arrearage within one month notwithstanding the fact that the plaintiff had been derelict by not cooperating with respect to defendant's visitation privileges. The chancellor recognized that the defendant's contention in this respect was 'in part reasonable'--presumably in relation to arrearage as of November 10, 1961; but he did not grant the defendant any relief with respect to said arrearage. On January 22, 1962 the defendant was adjudged in contempt and ordered to pay a fine of $500.00 or serve six months in jail. The order further provided, however, that these alternative penalties would be superseded should the defendant pay $17.50 each week to the plaintiff as child support and post a $500.00 bond conditioned to indemnify the plaintiff for costs and attorney's fees in the event of appeal. The second appeal is from this order.
The December 27, 1961 order to show cause noted the defendant's contention that he should be relieved of payments during the period that the plaintiff herself failed to honor the terms of the court's order. The chancellor observed, as already stated, that this contention was 'in part reasonable,' but he felt that the children should not be deprived of necessary food and clothing because of the fault of either parent. The order then required the defendant to show cause why he should not be adjudged in contempt for failure to pay arrearage from August 15, 1961 to that date.
We observe here that provision for current and prospective requirements of the children could have been ordered without compelling payment of arrearage in accordance with the tenor of the original order. Avoidance of such hardship ordinarily may be accomplished through adequate current and prospective payments without reference to the payment of any particular lump sum to cover arrearage. We think the defendant was...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Pyne v. Black
...to present evidence that mother denied him visitation in response to an order to show cause for nonpayment of support); Denton v. Denton, 147 So.2d 545 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962) (requiring father to pay child support arrearage for time when mother failed to allow visitation was error). Withholding......
-
D.F.W., In Interest of
...See Craig v. Craig, 157 Fla. 710, 26 So.2d 881 (Fla.1946); Warrick v. Hender, 198 So.2d 348 (Fla. 4th DCA 1967); Denton v. Denton, 147 So.2d 545 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962). However, the entirely logical reciprocal proposition in favor of the custodial parent was roundly rejected by the courts. Visi......
-
O'Brien v. O'Brien, 82-1332
...So.2d 492 (Fla. 2d DCA 1959). We find no evidence that the wife violated any order requiring visitation. Panganiban; Denton v. Denton, 147 So.2d 545 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962); see Phillips v. Adams, 339 So.2d 665 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); Teta. The Final Judgment of Dissolution contained no provision f......
-
Warrick v. Hender, 121
...the household. This result, if not the precise reasoning, appears to be fully in accord with the principle set forth in Denton v. Denton, Fla.App.1962, 147 So.2d 545, 548, 'Judicial opinion in Florida strongly supports the view that where a father is granted visitation rights with correlati......