Geary v. Geary

• Citation: 167 N.W. 778,102 Neb. 511
• Decision Date: 17 May 1918
• Docket Number: 20028
• Parties: ALICE GEARY, APPELLEE, v. WILLIAM J. GEARY, APPELLANT
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

167 N.W. 778

102 Neb. 511

ALICE GEARY, APPELLEE, v. WILLIAM J. GEARY, APPELLANT

No. 20028

Supreme Court of Nebraska

May 17, 1918

APPEAL from the district court for Wayne county: ANSON A. WELCH JUDGE. Affirmed.

AFFIRMED.

T. M Zink and A. R. Davis, for appellant.

R. E Evans, T. P. Cleary and J. P. Shoup, contra.

ROSE, J. LETTON, SEDGWICK and HAMER, JJ., not sitting.

OPINION

ROSE, J.

As presented on appeal, this is an independent suit in equity brought in the district court for Wayne county, Nebraska, to enforce the duty of defendant to support two of his minor children while in the custody of plaintiff, their mother. To defeat the action defendant pleaded a divorce procured by him in the district court for Plymouth county, Iowa, August 12, 1907, and an executed contract for the payment of alimony. Plaintiff and defendant have eleven children. In the Iowa divorce court three minors were committed to the father and four minors to the mother. The decree of divorce and the contract for alimony are silent on the subject of support for the children. The district court for Wayne county, Nebraska, found that two of the minors committed to plaintiff are self-supporting, but made allowances for the other minors committed to her, their names being Frank Geary and Stella Geary. For the period between the bringing of the present action July 15, 1914, and the entry of the decree October 9, 1916, plaintiff was allowed $ 1,800. Beginning October 18, 1916, defendant was ordered to pay $ 30 a month for the support, maintenance and education of Frank Geary, while attending school during his minority, and $ 30 a month for the support, maintenance and education of Stella Geary during her minority. It is from this decree that defendant has appealed.

In ordering defendant to support the two minor children named, did the district court for Wayne county, Nebraska, give "full faith and credit" to the Iowa judgment, within the meaning of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States? This is the question presented by the appeal. On issues raised by the pleadings, the following facts are established by the evidence:

Plaintiff and defendant were married in Iowa June 29, 1881. In a suit in which the district court for Plymouth county, Iowa, had jurisdiction of the subject-matter and of the parties, while both were domiciled in that county and state, the marriage tie was dissolved August 12, 1907. The decree of divorce did not mention alimony for the wife or support for the children, but the custody of four minors, including Frank Geary and Stella Geary, was committed to their mother. The parents had entered into a contract obligating the husband to pay the wife $ 7,250 in full of all alimony. This sum he subsequently paid, but out of it the wife had obligated herself to pay the claims of a number of creditors. He had been a resident of Nebraska five years when sued here. Plaintiff, with the minor children in her custody, had been a resident of Nebraska nearly two years when the decree in her favor for the support of Frank Geary and Stella Geary was rendered. During her entire residence in Nebraska she has been without sufficient means to support, maintain and educate the minor children named, and they are not self-supporting. Their father is abundantly able to support them, but refuses to perform his paternal duty in that respect. The allowances made by the district court for Wayne county, Nebraska, are both reasonable and necessary. These facts and those narrated in the preliminary statement herein are fully established by the evidence.

The contract for the payment of alimony does not on its face include support for the minor children. In the divorce suit there was no plea for their support or for alimony. The decree of divorce did not touch those subjects.

Under the laws of Nebraska it is the continuing duty of a father to support his minor children, and his obligation to do so cannot be evaded by neglect, improper contract, or other unjustifiable means. After parents have been judicially divorced, reasonable and necessary allowances for the support of minor children in the custody of the mother, if not formerly adjudicated, may be made in an independent suit by her against the father. Resident minor children are wards of the state in whom the government is interested. Education of children is compulsory as a public function. General jurisdiction to protect minors domiciled in the state and to enforce paternal obligations to offspring has been committed by...