Ex parte Porter

• Decision Date: 16 July 1947
• Docket Number: 6728
• Citation: Ex parte Porter, 203 S.W.2d 748 (Mo. App. 1947)
• Parties: Ex parte PORTER
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

203 S.W.2d 748

Ex parte PORTER

No. 6728

Court of Appeals of Missouri, Springfield

July 16, 1947

Warren M. Turner and Gerald W. Gleason, both of Springfield, for petitioner.

William A. Moon, of Springfield and W. S. Pelts, of Greenfield, for respondents.

OPINION

FULBRIGHT

This is a habeas corpus proceeding instituted by James W. Porter to secure the custody of Eleanor Rae Porter, a female child eight years of age, now alleged to be in the custody of respondents, Ray Tunnell and Mabel Tunnell, grandparents of said minor child.

Respondents disclaim any right or pretense to the custody of said minor child or that they have the custody of said child. They allege that said child came to their home only a short time ago on a visit and that said child has been and is in the care and custody of its mother, Fay Porter Stone.

It is agreed, and the record shows, that Fay Porter, the mother of Eleanor Rae Porter, a minor, obtained a decree of divorce from James W. Porter, petitioner herein, in the Circuit Court of Dade County, Missouri, on the 25th day of October, 1943 that in said decree of divorce the custody of said minor child was granted to its mother; that thereafter petitioner herein filed a motion to modify said decree of divorce and said decree was modified on the 7th day of November, 1946 that thereafter the mother of said minor child perfected her appeal to the Springfield Court of Appeals from the court's order sustaining petitioner's motion to modify said decree; that said appeal is now pending in this court and is to be heard at the October session thereof. The Judge of the trial court made the following order upon the Motion to Modify the original decree in the divorce case:

'It is ordered, adjudged and decreed that the plaintiff, Fay Porter, now Fay Porter Stone, shall have the care, custody and control of the said minor child, Eleanor Rae Porter during the school terms in each year provided that the defendant, James W. Porter, is to have the care, custody and control of said minor child from Friday evening to Sunday evening every other week during said school terms commencing November 22, 1946.

'It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed that the defendant James W. Porter, shall have the care, custody and control of said minor child during the school vacation in each year provided that the plaintiff, Fay Porter Stone, shall have the care, custody and control of the said child every...