Hughes v. Hughes, 39178

• Decision Date: 17 May 1954
• Docket Number: No. 39178,39178
• Parties: HUGHES v. HUGHES.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 677

72 So.2d 677

221 Miss. 264

HUGHES v. HUGHES.

No. 39178.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

May 17, 1954.

W. C. Sweat, Sr. & Jr., Corinth, for appellant.

Cary Stovall, James E. Price, Jr., Corinth, for appellee.

ARRINGTON, Justice.

Mrs. Elizabeth Simpson Hughes, appellant herein, was granted a divorce from Frank K. Hughes, appellee, in the Chancery Court of Alcorn County, Mississippi, on September 11, 1951. They had no children, and prior to the divorce appellant and appellee entered into a written agreement in which appellee agreed to convey to her their home, pay off the mortgage on same, and to pay her $200 per month alimony. This agreement was incorporated in the final decree and the court ordered appellee to pay within a reasonable time the balance due on the note to the National Bank of Commerce, secured by trust deed on the property described in the decree, and which appellee had deeded to appellant as agreed, and to pay appellant $200 per month 'until further orders of the court.'

On June 2, 1953, appellee filed a petition asking the court to modify the decree, alleging that the circumstances of the parties had materially changed in that petitioner had practically no income and defendant, appellant, had a very substantial income, and that he was unable to continue paying the alimony as ordered by the decree. Upon the hearing of the matter, the court entered a decree reducing the amount to be paid by appellee to appellant each month from $200 to 100 until further orders of the court, and appellee was directed to report back to the court his income and financial condition at the March, 1954 term, the court reserving the right to enter any further orders at such time. From this decree, the appellant appeals.

The appellant argues that the court was without authority to modify the former decree, her contention being that the agreement entered into between the parties was a binding contract and not subject to change. We find no merit in this contention. Section 2743, Mississippi Code of 1942, provides as follows:

'When a divorce shall be decreed from the bonds of matrimony, the court may, in its discretion, having regard to the circumstances of the parties and the nature of the case, as may seem equitable and just, make all orders * * * touching the maintenance and alimony of the wife, or any allowance to be made to her, and may, if need be, require sureties for the payment of the sum so allowed; and the court may afterwards, on petition, change the decree, and make from time to time such new decrees as the case may require.'

In Amis, Divorce and Separation in Mississippi, Section 209, we find the following on the subject of force and effect of a consent decree: '* * * Such a consent decree merely dispenses with the necessity of taking proof and making an allowance based thereon. And in all cases it is the decree of the court, rather than the contract of the parties, and may be enforced, modified, or revoked, in the same way as if it had been an adjudication based on testimony duly taken. There is much authority on the contrary, holding that a judgment by agreement or consent, is a mere record contract and that it may not be changed or modified by the court. That is the rule in other classes of cases; but the duty of the husband to support his wife is a matter in which the state has an interest, and the statute has accordingly authorized the...