Green v. Green

• Decision Date: 25 April 1939
• Citation: Green v. Green, 137 Fla. 359, 188 So. 355 (Fla. 1939)
• Parties: GREEN v. GREEN.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

188 So. 355

137 Fla. 359

GREEN v. GREEN.

Florida Supreme Court, Division A.

April 25, 1939

Suit for divorce by Joanna B. Green against H. Jackson Green, Jr. A decree was entered awarding to the complainant a divorce and granting her custody of a minor daughter. From that part of the decree awarding custody of the minor child, the defendant appeals.

Decree affirmed. Appeal from Circuit Court, Brevard County; M B. Smith, judge.

COUNSEL

William W. Judge, of Daytona Beach, for appellant.

B. F Brass, of Daytona Beach, for appellee.

OPINION

THOMAS Justice.

The chancellor rendered his decree in the above suit, brought by the wife against her husband, granting complainant a divorce and fixing the custody of the minor daughter of the parties in the following terms:

'Joanna B. Green * * * is hereby awarded the care, custody, control and possession of Jacqueline Green, the daughter of the parties to this suit; and in such behalf, the Court directs that the Complainant, beginning with the Fall of the year 1937, shall arrange so that the residence of the child will, for a large portion of each year, be in the City of Daytona Beach, Florida, and that the Defendant, shall have the right to visit said child at any and all convenient and reasonable times; and the Court hereby retains jurisdiction of this cause, with reference to the custody of said child, to consider said matter in the event any change in circumstances or conditions would warrant a modification of this decree.'

The appellant, defendant in the court below, has waived all assignments of error except those questioning the propriety of that part of the final decree which we have quoted.

The child mentioned is a little past five years of age and is being reared in the home of her mother. With the exception of the atmosphere which is inevitably created in a home where the mother and father cannot agree and seek the court of equity to settle their differences, fortune has smiled on this little girl. The home is shown to have cost seventy-five thousand dollars and there is present a staff of servants consisting of a nurse, house man, butler, cook, maid and a special nurse. Her home is situated in a respectable part of the town of Daytona Beach.

It appears that the mother is affluent, with an income of from ten to twelve thousand dollars a year. She gives several hours a day to the attention of her young daughter, supervises her religious training, attends church herself and takes the child to Maine in the summer months.

We think that the learned chancellor has decided wisely in choosing the mother as custodian, and that by doing so no reflection was cast upon the interest of the father in the child or her well-being.

We have been rather impressed by statements of the physician introduced by the defendant and who said under oath that he was friendly to both parties and thought the defendant was able economically and morally to...