Keegan v. Juvenile
| Decision Date | 14 July 1944 |
| Docket Number | No. 208.,208. |
| Citation | 132 N.J.L. 21,38 A.2d 458 |
| Parties | VAN KEEGAN v. JUVENILE AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS COURT OF BERGEN COUNTY. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Certiorari by Charles Van Keegan against Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of the County of Bergen, to review an order of the respondent court finding that the prosecutor was guilty of abandoning, deserting and wilfully refusing or neglecting to support his family adequately, contrary to N.J.S.A. 9:18-14.
Order reversed.
Before CASE, BODINE, and PORTER, JJ.
James A. Major and Major & Carlsen, all of Hackensack, for prosecutor.
Wilbur L. Ross, of Jersey City, for respondent.
The writ brings up the record of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of the County of Bergen in a case entitled ‘The State v. Charles H. Van Keegan’ wherein there was an order reciting that the complaint charged ‘the defendant with abandoning, abusing, deserting and wilfully refusing or neglecting to support his family adequately, contrary to Chapter 18-14, Title 9, of the Revised Statutes of 1937’, and deciding that the defendant was ‘guilty in the form and manner as charged’. The order imposed no sentence; it provided that sentence ‘be suspended upon condition that the said defendant pay direct the sum of Thirty ($30.) (while the loan is pending) dollars a week toward the support and maintenance of his family’. Notwithstanding the recitals in the order, the complaint did not charge the defendant with either abandonment or abuse. The proofs are recited in a statement signed by the court, but, as thus recited, they are conflicting. No findings of fact were made by the judge except as follows: ‘The court stated the defendant's fixed expenses are $112 per month-in addition to which he pays $50 on a loan of $250 but is not giving the wife sufficient, considering his earnings, for clothing and food for the home’. It is clear that there was not a desertion. There was no charge of a desertion, no proof of it and no finding as to it. In fact the wife certified in a preliminary questionnaire submitted by the court that her husband had not deserted her. Further, there is no finding that the wife and children were likely to become public charges.
The case was resolved into a dispute as to whether the husband gave his wife sufficient money, considering his earnings, for clothing and food. The court decided that he did not and made the order accordingly. The question is whether the court had authority to entertain the suit for that purpose or to make the order.
The respondent's case is rested solely upon the provisions contained in the act creating a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court:
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State v. Savastini
...desertion was one ingredient and proof that the wife was likely to become a public charge was another. VanKeegan v. Juvenile, etc., Court, 132 N.J.L. 21, 38 A.2d 458 (Sup.Ct.1944); Coffey v. Coffey, 125 N.J.L. 205, 14 A.2d 485 (Sup.Ct.1940). But neither those decisions nor the statute they ......
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...under which, on a public charge basis, support may be awarded, and upon the amount of support allowable, VanKeegan v. Juvenile, etc., Court, 132 N.J.L. 21, 38 A.2d 458 (Sup.Ct.1944); Boger v. Zimmerman, 132 N.J.L. 282, 39 A.2d 850 (Sup.Ct.1944); Warner v. Gloucester County Court of Domestic......