Jordan v. Jordan

• Decision Date: 15 July 1987
• Docket Number: No. 56811,56811
• Citation: 510 So.2d 131
• Parties: Nelva Jean JORDAN v. William Franklin JORDAN.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 131

510 So.2d 131

Nelva Jean JORDAN v. William Franklin JORDAN.

No. 56811.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

July 15, 1987.

Johnnie E. Walls, Jr., Walls & Irving, Greenville, for appellant.

William T. Reed, Pascagoula, for appellee.

Before ROY NOBLE LEE, SULLIVAN and GRIFFIN, JJ.

ROY NOBLE LEE, Presiding Justice, for the court:

Nelva Jean Jordan has appealed from a judgment of the Chancery Court, Jackson County, Mississippi, granting William Franklin Jordan a divorce on the ground of uncondoned adultery and awarding alimony and support, which she contends to be inadequate. She assigns two errors in the trial below:

I. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN GRANTING A DIVORCE TO THE APPELLEE ON THE GROUND OF ADULTERY IN THAT THE APPELLEE FAILED TO PROVE ADULTERY AND THAT ADMITTED ACTS OF ADULTERY HAD BEEN CONDONED BY APPELLEE.

II. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN AWARDING APPELLANT A MEAGER SUM REPRESENTING LUMP-SUM ALIMONY.

The parties were married June 2, 1968, in Coahoma, Mississippi. One child was born of the marriage, i.e., Chekesha Mai Jordan, whose date of birth is January 1, 1973. The parties separated July 18, 1984, in Gautier, Jackson County, Mississippi.

I.

Appellant contends that the Court erred in granting a divorce to appellee, that the appellee failed to prove adultery and that admitted acts of adultery had been condoned by appellee. We find it unnecessary to set out, or discuss, the evidence introduced by both parties relating to acts of adultery and cruelty on the part of the other. The chancellor found the following:

It leads the Court to conclude which one of you have been the worst, of the two, and weighing it out in my mind and considering and watching each of you throughout this trial, and the demeanor, and your expressions, and the stories that you've given, I find that probably the person that gave the most incredible explanations of what had happened and what occurred, and stories that certainly could not be unbelievable [sic] is Mrs. Jordan.

She complained about being in situations where--that she was in, particularly with this gentleman, Fred, who she had sexual intercourse with. She complained about him picking her up and taking her in the bedroom, and fondling her, and playing with her, and this, that, and the other, but not one time did she ever attempt to remove herself from that situation. She went there, knowing that when there was another couple that got up and went into another bedroom, what was coming down, with her intelligence, when she was left there with another man not her husband, and she did not leave. She didn't when that was over. She stayed. And the story about the contraceptives is incredible to me. Not only unbelievable, but even if that were the truth, I cannot believe that you would play these kind of games, particularly when it was obviously open and notorious that your marriage was corroding and eroding away, and that was no time to be playing games, by either or both.... The overall and prevailing grounds in this case in my judgment constrains me to award the divorce to Mr. Jordan on the grounds of adultery, uncondoned, against his wife.

Adultery may be shown by evidence or by admissions and either are sufficient to support a decree of divorce. Oberlin v. Oberlin, 201 Miss. 228, 232, 29 So.2d 82 (1947); Miller v. Miller, 173 Miss. 44, 159 So. 112, 115 (1935). We are of the opinion that the chancellor was not manifestly wrong in granting a divorce to appellee on the ground of adultery, and that the acts of adultery were uncondoned. Dillon v. Dillon, 498...