Gauger v. Gauger
| Decision Date | 17 June 1914 |
| Citation | 147 N.W. 1075,157 Wis. 630 |
| Parties | GAUGER v. GAUGER. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from a judgment of the circuit court for Brown County; Samuel D. Hastings, Circuit Judge. Affirmed.
Action for a divorce. Plaintiff in due form pleaded a good cause for a divorce. Defendant duly joined issue in respect thereto and counterclaimed for a divorce on the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment. She prevailed and judgment was granted in her favor, and a division of property was adjudged.
The parties had lived together for some over twenty years. At the time of the marriage neither of the parties possessed any property to speak of. They commenced so living on a farm, the property of defendant's mother. His mother gave him $2,000 with which to acquire such farm and her mother gave her the farm personal property valued at about $700, and made pecuniary concessions as to the price of the farm and terms of payment. By united efforts of the parties they improved and worked the farm for a period of about fifteen years and then sold it and moved to the city of De Pere. At that time they possessed around $10,000 in money and property clear from all debts. They have two children, both married and living in houses of their own. When the farm was acquired it was worth $7,000. The personal property was worth somewhat in excess of $700. The purchase price of the farm was $5,000 and the excess over that amount was a gift from defendant's mother. The deferred amount of $3,000 was allowed to run at 4% in consideration of defendant being the vendor's daughter. At the time of the division, the property possessed by the parties was somewhat less than the amount they had when the farm was sold. The latter value was about $9,000 subject to debts to the amount of $1,288. The property consisted of a note and mortgage running for some time without interest and of the value of about $2,800, a house and lot, valued at $3,500, the title to which had been vested in defendant, a note of $700 made by one of the sons and a small house and eleven lots, valued at $2,000. The note and mortgage was for the entire purchase money due from one of the sons for a farm the parties sold to him. At the date of the judgment the parties were each about fifty years of age and in fair health. The court decided that, under the circumstances, a fair division of the property required it to be distributed about equally. To that end defendant was given the note and mortgage and the small house and the lots, while he was required to pay the debts and costs and attorney's fees amounting to $115.20, leaving him a net amount of $3,096.80. She was awarded the home which cost some $4,300 and was valued at $3,500. Defendant was dissatisfied with such division because, when the farm was sold she was given $1,000, which, some time thereafter, she returned to plaintiff for investment in property which he took title to. It was the judgment of the court that the property should be dealt with as an entirety. This appeal was taken solely for relief in respect to the property element.M. E. Davis, of Green Bay, for appellant.
Kittell & Burke, of Green Bay, for respondent.
[1] The division of property, in a case of this sort, is peculiarily a matter resting in the discretion of the trial court, subject to such rules as have been established by this court for guidance in respect to the matter. Therefore, the trial determination must prevail unless clearly characterized by mistake or some manifest error respecting the detail facts upon which it rests, or disregard of established guides, amounting to a pretty clear want of judicial discretion or judgment. Newton v. Newton, 145 Wis. 261, 130 N. W. 105.
[2] In making a division of property in a divorce action the ages of the parties, their condition of health, their competency to earn money, the manner the property was acquired, the situation as to probable family burdens after the divorce, the nature of the property and all other circumstances bearing on the question of an equitable distribution, are to be taken into consideration. Harran v. Harran, 85 Wis. 299, 55 N. W. 400.
[3] The statute, § 2364, requires the division to be on a fair basis, having due regard to the legal and equitable rights of each party, the ability of the husband, the special estate of the wife, the character and situation of the parties and all the circumstances of the particular case, “all property of the husband and the property of the wife derived from him” to be considered as the subject to be dealt with.
In case of property having been contributed by or in behalf of the wife to the family possession, the title being vested in the husband by her consent and merged with his property, and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Bussewitz v. Bussewitz
...approach to the division of marital estates in divorce actions was derived from a statement of this court in Gauger v. Gauger, 157 Wis. 630, 633, 147 N.W. 1075, 1077 (1914): '. . . Except in some extraordinary circumstances, the maximum for the wife is one half. That may be reduced to one t......
-
Lacey v. Lacey
...and fifty by the wife. Judgment reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. 1 Citing Gauger v. Gauger (1914), 157 Wis. 630, 147 N.W. 1075.2 ,24 Am.Jur.2d, Divorce and Separation, sec. 933, at p. 1065: '* * * On the other hand it has been held in one jurisdict......
-
Bahr v. Bahr
...division of property serves as a guide in our analysis of the maintenance award. We note that in the 1914 decision in Gauger v. Gauger, 157 Wis. 630, 147 N.W. 1075 (1914), the court was of the opinion that "a clear third of the whole [property division] is a liberal allowance to the wife, s......
-
Perrenoud v. Perrenoud
...245, 112 N.W.2d 584 (1961).This "one-third rule of property division" was derived from a statement of this court in Gauger v. Gauger, 157 Wis. 630, 633, 147 N.W. 1075 (1914).14 Tesch v. Tesch, 63 Wis.2d 320, 327, 217 N.W.2d 647 (1974); Shetney v. Shetney, 49 Wis.2d 26, 31, 181 N.W.2d 516 (1......