Godwin v. Godwin
| Decision Date | 18 July 1939 |
| Citation | 190 So. 603,139 Fla. 309 |
| Parties | GODWIN v. GODWIN. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Action for alimony by Pearl Godwin against L. C. Godwin. The defendant by counterclaim prayed for a divorce. From a decree of the chancellor awarding the plaintiff alimony and refusing to grant a divorce to the defendant, the defendant appeals.
Decree reversed in part, and affirmed in part. Appeal from Circuit Court, Osceola County; Frank A. Smith, judge.
O. S Thacker, of Kissimmee, for appellant.
Horrell & Horrell, of Orlando, for appellee.
The complainant wife sought and obtained a decree granting her alimony. In her bill she did not pray for divorce but charged the defendant husband with desertion and with extreme cruelty because of his inordinate attention to other women.
Because of the caption of the pleading, i. e., 'Alimony Unconnected with Divorce' and its substance, we understand that the statute to which complainant resorted for her relief is Section 4988, C.G.L.1927, providing that if any cause for divorce exists in favor of the wife and she is living apart from her husband she may obtain alimony without procuring a divorce.
The defendant in his counterclaim asserted that the separation was chargeable to the complainant and was the outcome of domestic difficulties extending over a period of about fourteen years. He prayed for a divorce on the grounds of desertion, extreme cruelty and habitual indulgence in a violent and ungovernable temper.
Practically all of the testimony was introduced before a special examiner who reported it to the court without findings on questions of law or fact.
By his decree the chancellor ordered defendant to pay alimony solicitors' fees and costs and recited that the desertion of the complainant by the defendant had been established while the defendant had failed to prove the allegations of the counter claim, hence was not entitled to a divorce.
The tale of domestic disharmony shown in the record is so strikingly similar to other controversies reviewed by us that we feel a digest of the testimony would be of little value. The wife was discontented and, according to the husband, the monotonous drone of a plaintive voice became unbearable. The wife's version was that he became too interested in other women. In either event, she finally slapped him and ever since they have remained apart.
We are inclined to agree that...
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