Jackson v. Jackson
| Decision Date | 03 November 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-SC-129-DG,81-SC-129-DG |
| Citation | 626 S.W.2d 630 |
| Parties | Juanita JACKSON (Now Catlett), Movant, v. Carl K. JACKSON, Respondent. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Patricia A. Lewis, Elizabethtown, for movant.
Thomas E. Cooper, Elizabethtown, for respondent.
The issue in this case is whether an antenuptial contract providing that the wife be furnished a decent support during her natural life is against public policy and therefore void. The trial court upheld the agreement and found that the sum of $300 per month under the facts of this case was a decent support. The Court of Appeals held that the subject agreement to provide decent support was contrary to the public policy of Kentucky and therefore void. We disagree with the Court of Appeals and concur in the judgment of the trial court.
Movant, Juanita Jackson, and respondent, Carl K. Jackson, were married on September 7, 1969, separated on December 1, 1978, and Carl filed a petition to dissolve the marriage in the circuit court of Hardin County, Kentucky, on January 8, 1979. We need to consider the status of the respective parties. Each of them had been married before. Juanita was a widow with an 11-year-old disabled son. Carl had a 33-year-old married son and a 27-year-old daughter. At the time of her marriage to Carl, Juanita worked as a receptionist in a dental office, as well as operated a large farm on which she had many head of cattle, much hay, corn and tobacco, and the usual farming equipment. Carl at that time managed a motel and restaurant in Glasgow, Kentucky. He left that employment and was hired to manage the restaurant at Holiday Inn, North, at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where he earned about $15,000 per year exclusive of room and board. During the marriage Carl sold much of the farm equipment and pocketed the greater part of the money. Much of the cattle was sold for $11,000, of which Carl demanded and received about one-half. In 1971 Carl sold a piece of real estate he owned in Glasgow for $13,500, no part of which he gave to Juanita. The parties purchased a new pickup truck, which was placed in Carl's name, in which, on December 1, 1978, Carl left Kentucky, taking with him about $30,000.
Prior to their marriage, the parties executed an antenuptial marital agreement in words and figures as follows:
"WHEREAS, marriage is about to take place between Juanita Thurman Catlett of R.F.D. 2, Sonora, LaRue County, Kentucky, and Carl Jackson of Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky; this marriage contract between the parties hereto whose names are hereunto subscribed;
AND WHEREAS, they are desirous, before doing so, to establish their respective rights to each other's property;
The said Juanita Thurman Catlett agrees and binds herself to make no claim to dower or homestead or other distributable right, interest, or share in the real or personal property of said Carl Jackson, and hereby releases, relinquishes, and waives all claims to dower, homestead, or to other distributable right or share in the property, real or personal, of said Carl Jackson; Said Juanita Thurman Catlett agrees that said Carl Jackson shall have the exclusive right to the use and control of, and dispose of what property, real, personal or mixed, and of whatever nature said Carl Jackson has, before, during, or after the marriage, free from all claims of said Juanita Thurman Catlett, her heirs, administrators, executors and assigns;
And in consideration thereof the said Carl Jackson agrees and binds himself to make no claim to curtesy or homestead or other distributable right, interest, or share in the real or personal property of said Juanita Thurman Catlett, and hereby releases, relinquishes and waives all claims to curtesy, homestead, or to other distributable right or share in the property, real or personal, of said Juanita Thurman Catlett; Said Carl Jackson agrees that said Juanita Thurman Catlett shall have the exclusive right to the...
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...S.W.2d 942 (1981), this Court acknowledged doubts about the continued validity of the policy enunciated in Stratton. In Jackson v. Jackson, Ky., 626 S.W.2d 630 (1981), we distinguished Stratton and upheld the application of an antenuptial contract in a divorce situation because the obligati......
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Edwardson v. Edwardson
...522, 523 (1916). In subsequent decisions we have adhered to the foregoing rule, although a fine distinction was drawn in Jackson v. Jackson, Ky., 626 S.W.2d 630 (1981), wherein the Court enforced an antenuptial agreement in a divorce action which required the husband to furnish the wife "a ......
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In re Jackson, Bankruptcy No. 4-82-00257
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