Jahn v. Jahn, 36216

Citation276 P.2d 225
Decision Date12 October 1954
Docket NumberNo. 36216,36216
PartiesFritz JAHN, Plaintiff in Error, v. Lina JAHN, Defendant in Error.
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma

Syllabus by the Court.

In the present action where the trial court granted plaintiff wife a divorce from defendant, and effected a division of their jointly acquired property, and defendant appeals; record examined and held: On the basis of the record, the trial court did not abuse its discretion or exceed the latitude allowed such courts in the property division, and its decision as to the divorce was not clearly against the weight of the evidence.

Clay M. Roper, Oklahoma City, for plaintiff in error.

John Connolly, Oklahoma City, for defendant in error.

BLACKBIRD, Justice.

Plaintiff in error's appeal is from the judgment entered in a divorce action instituted against him, as defendant, by defendant in error, as plaintiff. The parties will hereinafter be referred to by their trial court designations. By said judgment, plaintiff was granted a divorce, and a division of the parties' jointly acquired property was effected. Defendant's principal complaint about the decree concerns the latter.

As no one, either court reporter or stenographer, took down or transcribed the evidence, we are dependent for the facts upon so-called narrative statements setting forth (perhaps largely from memory) their respective versions of the evidence, made and filed by the parties' attorneys subsequent to the decree, upon the decree itself, and upon the remarks of the trial judge recorded at a hearing upon the suggestion of amendments to the case-made.

As concerns the principal issue here involved, the evidence, in so far as undisputed in the attorneys' respective narratives, appears to have been substantially as hereinafter related. Plaintiff and defendant are 58 and 57 years of age, respectively. They had two children, born in 1930 and 1931, respectively. Since the couple came to Oklahoma City in 1926, they have both been employed more or less regularly. Plaintiff's salary as a butcher in the market operated by his sister's family, and at his present job with a seed company, has averaged between $35 and $60 per week. The first real estate the couple acquired in this City was equities in residences on Northwest 25th Street and in the sixty-seven hundred block on Northwest 10th Street. Later they sold these and applied the proceeds of said sales to the purchase of their present home which is situated at 6406 Northwest 10th Street, and includes one and one-fourth acres. This purchase was made in August, 1949. To make it, the couple obtained a loan of $5,000 from a local building and loan company, to be repaid at the rate of $53.58 per month. At the time of the trial, there was a balance due on this loan of $3,562.02, secured by a first mortgage on the property. Since acquiring it, the parties have enlarged and made certain improvements on the residence to render it suitable for a rest home for aged persons; and plaintiff has made a business of keeping such persons, which was continuing at the time of the trial. According to plaintiff's testimony, said property's total market value is between $12,000 and $13,000, while defendant testified it was worth between $15,000 and $16,000. Other than it, the couple have an old Ford automobile, worth $100, and household goods worth $750, in addition to a power mower and hedge trimmer whose values are not shown. Other than the balance due on the home loan, the only indebtedness shown to be owed by the parties, or either of them, is a balance of $213.36 due on an attic fan, $46 due on a dog house, $120 due the Fidelity National Bank, and $1,700 said to be due defendant's sister.

In its judgment, the trial court gave the home to the plaintiff wife and decreed that she pay the indebtedness on it, on the attic fan, and on the dog house. To defendant, the decree awarded the auto and $2,000 in cash, payable over an extended period, and secured by a lien on the home. On the other hand, it required him to pay the debt due Fidelity National Bank and made him responsible for any necessary payment to, or settlement with, his siter of the $1,700 'claimed to be' due her. Also, he was required to pay plaintiff's attorney a fee of $100, in addition to the $40 he had paid earlier in the litigation, together with court costs, which are said to be $40.

In the present appeal, defendant first contends that the above-described division of money and property is out of proportion to his entitlement. He presents a list or inventory showing the value, or monetary equivalent, (according to the testimony) of the parties' respective assets and liabilities, as apportioned to them in the decree, in an attempt to show that said division was unjust and inequitable and left him a net benefit of only $100 from the action, while plaintiff obtained net assets worth $8,205.62, according to her evidence, or $11,205.62, according to his. Counsel concedes that the 'equitable' division of property parties have jointly acquired during their marriage, prescribed by Tit. 12, O.S.1951 § 1278, to be made in such cases, does not necessarily mean an equal division. He also concedes that in such division, the divorce court is allowed wide discretion and latitude; that it may consider, among other things, the relative efforts put forth by the respective parties in acquiring it; and that said court's judgment in the matter will not be disturbed on appeal unless clearly against the weight of the evidence. Logan v. Logan, 197 Okl. 88, 168 P.2d 878; Greer v. Greer, 194 Okl. 181, 148 P.2d 156; Smith v. Smith, 169 Okl. 305, 36 P.2d 886.

From the attorneys' respective versions of the testimony incorporated in the record in lieu of a transcript, it is impossible for us to arrive at any independent, reliable and unequivocal conclusion as to one of the above mentioned factors. It concerns the relative efforts of the two parties towards enabling their acquisition of the property, on which point the attorneys' statements are rather conflicting. According to the attorney for the defendant, 'he spent all of the money he made in support of his family * * *'. On the other hand, plaintiff's counsel stated plaintiff testified that defendant 'never throughout the years of the marriage gave her any money, that she did not know what he did with his money * * *; that while employed as a butcher he usually brought home the meats, and throughout the marriage has furnished at least part of the groceries; that during the marriage a good many of the things that were bought, were purchased on the payment plan, and that she was always required to make the payments out of her separate...

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6 cases
  • Adams v. Adams
    • United States
    • Oklahoma Supreme Court
    • 14 Febrero 1956
    ...be deemed to include a further finding of movant's unfitness under the rule governing our view of trial court judgments, see Jahn v. Jahn, Okl., 276 P.2d 225, and other cases cited in Vol. 2A, Okl.Dig., Appeal and Error, k931(1, 3), the trial judge's oral statements in announcing said judgm......
  • Agent v. Agent
    • United States
    • United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
    • 23 Octubre 1979
    ...Thus we will not reverse. Kiddie v. Kiddie, 563 P.2d 139; Duncan v. Duncan, 449 P.2d 267; Honeywell v. Honeywell, 344 P.2d 589; Jahn v. Jahn, Okl., 276 P.2d 225. Appellant next complains of the amount of child support awarded, to-wit, $500.00 per month for each child, and seeks a reduction ......
  • Durfee v. Durfee
    • United States
    • Oklahoma Supreme Court
    • 16 Diciembre 1969
    ...the $50,000.00, set forth in the October 31st 'ASSETS' list, was incorrect or constituted error. In this connection, notice Jahn v. Jahn, Okl., 276 P.2d 225, 227. Considering the home, and its contents, as worth (instead of the total sum of $50,000.00) a total sum of $30,000.00, as set fort......
  • Joe Hodges Transp. Corp. v. Coffman, 42313
    • United States
    • Oklahoma Supreme Court
    • 10 Febrero 1970
    ...in the record transmitted to us, and in the absence of any other record showing to the contrary. In this connection, see Jahn v. Jahn, Okl., 276 P.2d 225. It is an established rule of appellate review in this jurisdiction 'It is the duty of the plaintiff in error to cause to be prepared and......
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