French v. French, 9-69
| Decision Date | 02 December 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 9-69,9-69 |
| Citation | 128 Vt. 138,259 A.2d 778 |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
| Parties | Rita F. FRENCH v. Eric M. FRENCH. |
Stephen B. Martin, Edwin W. Free, Jr., John E. Bernasconi and Richard E. Davis, Barre, for plaintiff.
Norbert J. Towne, Northfield, and John A. Burgess, Montpelier, for defendant.
Before HOLDEN, C. J., and SHANGRAW, BARNEY, SMITH and KEYSER, JJ.
The defendant father brings this appeal from proceedings which derive from a divorce granted to plaintiff May 22, 1964. The question is increased weekly allowance ordered for support and maintenance of three minor sons whose custody was granted to the mother at the time of the divorce. At that time the boys were aged ten, eight and seven and the defendant was ordered to pay twenty dollars each week for their collective support and maintenance. The lower court increased the award to thirty dollars each week.
Both parents have been gainfully employed during the interim since the divorce. Although the defendant has changed employment, his weekly income has remained substantially at the same level of seventy-four dollars. The same holds true of the plaintiff's earnings. The court found her expenses for food and clothing have increased as the boys have grown older during a period of constantly increasing cost of living.
The court regarded these factors as constituting a material change in the plaintiff's financial status and amended the decree accordingly. The defendant challenges this determination, contending that the facts shown in the record are insufficient to confer jurisdiction to alter the original decree as it relates to support of the minor children.
The proceedings to modify the decree are founded on 15 V.S.A. § 758. A change in circumstances and conditions since the original decree is a jurisdictional prerequisite to the power of the court to deal with the problem. Otherwise, the doctrine of res judicata prevents a judgment of modification. Sand v. Sand, 116 Vt. 70, 71, 69 A.2d 7.
Every court has the power in the first instance to determine the jurisdictional facts in the cause presented for adjudication. Town of Woodstock v. Cleveland, 125 Vt. 510, 512, 218 A.2d 691; Thorp v. Porter, 70 Vt. 570, 572, 41 A. 657. The weight and sufficiency of the evidence to establish a change in circumstances to justify a new order for support is entrusted to the tribunal where the petition is presented. Its determination in this issue must stand unless its corrective action is without...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Medveskas v. Karparis
...order can be modified--that "[o]therwise, the doctrine of res judicata prevents a judgment of modification." French v. French, 128 Vt. 138, 139, 259 A.2d 778, 779 (1969); see also In re Forslund, 123 Vt. 341, 343, 189 A.2d 537, 539 (1963) (foreign child custody decree "is res adjudicata as ......
-
Lace v. University of Vermont, 163-71
...jurisdiction to entertain this petition for declaratory judgment sans a justiciable controversy on the authority of French v. French, 128 Vt. 138, 139, 259 A.2d 778 (1969), and In re McMahon Children, 115 Vt. 415, 417, 63 A.2d 198 (1949). As such, the judgment order of the Franklin County C......
-
Grant v. Grant
...to modify, the party seeking relief must establish a substantial change of circumstance since the original decree. French v. French, 128 Vt. 138, 139, 259 A.2d 778, 779 (1969). Otherwise the doctrine of res judicata prevents a judgment of modification. Sand v. Sand, 116 Vt. 70, 71, 69 A.2d ......
- Dussault, In re, 44-68