Garrow v. Garrow
| Decision Date | 17 June 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 20211,20211 |
| Citation | 152 Colo. 480,382 P.2d 809 |
| Parties | William F. GARROW, Plaintiff in Error, v. Eileen Therese GARROW, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Kenneth A. Selby, Denver, for plaintiff in error.
Burnett, Watson & Horan, Denver, for defendant in error. SUTTON, Justice.
The matter here for review is an order of the district court modifying the terms of child support and visitation rights in connection with a divorce decree. Mrs. Garrow, plaintiff in the trial court and defendant in error here, will be referred to as Eileen. Mr. Garrow, defendant in the trial court, will be referred to as William.
The record discloses that Eileen obtained an interlocutory divorce decree on September 29, 1958, which continued an earlier temporary child support order for $100.00 per month and reserved for later decision questions of alimony, court costs and attorney's fees. The final decree was granted March 30, 1959, and in addition to continuing the payment of $100.00 per month for child support William was granted specific visitation rights with the three minor children of the parties each Sunday from 12 noon to 5:00 P.M. No award was then made for alimony or attorney's fees. It appears that at the time of the final decree William was earning $350.00 per month. We note that no transcript as to the final hearing on the property settlement between the parties is included in this record so we are uninformed as to the equities involved in that phase of this unfortunate controversy.
On August 8, 1961 William filed a motion for modification of the support order and visitation rights. His motion did not state whether the modification was to be an increase or decrease in amount; however, it suggested there should be a decrease since Eileen was then working and receiving monthly donations towards her support from her family. It clearly appears from this record that she lives substantially beyond her income. Eileen's response to this motion was to assert a change of circumstances requiring an increase in child support. She also requested $150.00 attorney's fees for the expense of contesting William's motion.
The record further discloses that on October 31, 1961 William had the court issue four subpoenas requesting that Eileen, Alfred O'Meara Jr., Eugene P. O'Meara and Nancy O'Meara appear in court on November 1, 1961. He sought to have Eileen bring certain papers concerning her present financial situation. As to the remaining three persons he sought to force them to bring to court their federal and state income tax returns for the years 1959 and 1960 and to show all amounts of money they had donated towards the support of the three Garrow children.
Eileen was the only subpoenaed person to appear at the November 1st hearing. William then filed a motion for the enforcement of the subpoenas, which was answered by Eileen with a motion to quash. Her reasons were the short notice involved and the fact that the other three persons were not parties to the action and that the information requested was confidential. The motion to quash was granted on November 21, 1961 and hearing was set on the modification order for January 4, 1962.
At that hearing Eileen and William both testified and produced papers concerning their respective financial situations. William indicated that he was now earning $500.00 per month salary and receiving $100.00 per month car allowance. In addition, in 1961 he received a bonus for 1960 from his employer of $590.00 but the record fails to indicate that this is to be a definite year to year reward. William realized, however, that the increase in his income from the time of the divorce decree would warrant some increase in child support and he expressed a willingness to pay $150.00 per month if he could use two of the children for income tax deduction purposes and have better visitation rights.
Eileen's testimony revealed that in addition to the $100.00 per month child support she received from her ex-husband that she was also employed as a secretary. In that position she earned $309.25 gross for each ten months a year and $335.00 gross for each of two months a year. Her expenses for herself, the three children and a baby sitter were $635.00 per month. She stated that the difference between her income and expenses was made up by gifts from relatives who were the three earlier mentioned O'Mearas; it further appearing that the three O'Mearas also were attempting to take her three children as dependents on their income tax returns. William then again moved that the O'Mearas appear in court to give exact amounts they claimed as deductions, but this...
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Henderson v. Romer, 94CA0454
...those granting involuntary dismissal pursuant to C.R.C.P. 41(b) for failure to prosecute with diligence. C.R.C.P. 52; Garrow v. Garrow, 152 Colo. 480, 382 P.2d 809 (1963). Here, the trial court dismissed plaintiffs' complaint pursuant to C.R.C.P. 12(b)(5) for failure to state a claim. There......
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Us Fax Law Center, Inc. v. Henry Schein, No. 08CA0012.
...Under this provision, the trial court has no duty to make written findings of fact and conclusions of law. Garrow v. Garrow, 152 Colo. 480, 484, 382 P.2d 809, 811 (1963). A trial judge may deny a motion to amend his or her findings "by simply denying the motion, and if he [or she] believes ......
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Marriage of Nimmo, In re
...financial resources of an aunt with whom the child was living were not to be considered in making a support award); Garrow v. Garrow, 152 Colo. 480, 382 P.2d 809 (1963) (concluding that the contributions of third-parties were immaterial to a determination of father's duty of support). The o......
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Marriage of Serfoss, In re, 81CA0211
...a divorce case, orders for support are to be based on conditions as they exist at the time of the hearing. See, e.g., Garrow v. Garrow, 152 Colo. 480, 382 P.2d 809 (1963); Watson v. Watson, 135 Colo. 296, 310 P.2d 554 (1957). Similarly, it has held that, in the modification of such orders, ......