Keller v. Keller, 45610

• Decision Date: 26 January 1970
• Docket Number: No. 45610,45610
• Citation: 230 So.2d 808
• Parties: Mable Lee Lefler KELLER v. Roy John KELLER.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 808

230 So.2d 808

Mable Lee Lefler KELLER v. Roy John KELLER.

No. 45610.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Jan. 26, 1970.

Barnett & Barnett, Jackson, for appellant.

Lipscomb, Barksdale, Steen & Caraway, Jimmie B. Reynolds, Jr., Jackson, for appellee.

GILLESPIE, Presiding Justice:

Roy John Keller, appellee (hereinafter Keller), was granted a divorce on April 26, 1965, from Mable Lee Lefler Keller, appellant (hereinafter Mrs. Keller). The decree provided the following: awarded Mrs. Keller $250 per month alimony during widowhood; ordered Keller to maintain a $50,000 life insurance policy wherein Keller was the insured and Mrs. Keller the beneficiary; required Keller to provide Mrs. Keller with medical insurance; ordered Keller to pay Mrs. Keller the sum of $1,000 in cash within ten days from the decree; and further provided '* * * that hereafter, out of each annual bonus that (Keller) may receive from his employer, over and above his regular income, (Keller) shall pay to (Mrs. Keller) the sum of $600 per year or 50% of the bonus money received for the year, whichever is the lesser.'

On December 11, 1968, Keller filed a petition for modification of alimony payments and for general relief on the ground that there had been a material change in circumstances which affected his ability to comply with the provisions of the decree. The proof showed that on the date of the divorce decree Keller was the Field Sales Manager for Allstate Insurance Company in Jackson, Mississippi, and that in June 1965 he was transferred to New Orleans to become District Sales Manager. According to Keller this transfer was a demotion since the latter position offered little opportunity for advancement. Keller's income was $16,033 in 1965, $16,468 in 1966, $15,741 in 1967, and $16,305 in 1968. In addition to the $250 per month alimony payments, Keller expended the annual sum of $1,461 to maintain the life insurance policy and $177.40 for Mrs. Keller's health insurance. When the divorce decree was granted Keller had a $6,700 credit in a profit sharing program with his employer, and this had increased to $19,140 in 1968. However, the proceeds of the fund are unavailable to Keller until he reaches sixty-five years of age. In 1965 Keller obtained a bank loan in the amount of $12,000, repayable at $165 per month. Thereafter he borrowed an additional $2,400. At the time of the modification hearing, Keller was repaying both of these debts. Keller testified that he was also indebted to the Veterans Administration in the amount of $1,620 attributed to a deficiency caused by the foreclosure of a deed of trust on the home which he and Mrs. Keller were purchasing. Though Keller remarried in May 1967 he computed, as if he had remained single, that his living expenses, including the sum of $243 per month as payment on the bank loans, would require $852 per month. Mrs. Keller has worked part time since the divorce but testified that health problems prevent her from full time employment. She contends that she needs additional sums upon which to live and, thus, she seeks under the prayer of her cross-petition to have the alimony payments increased.

After a full hearing the special chancellor made a finding that there had been a material change in circumstances which affected Keller's ability to comply with the decree and further construed the provision of the original decree with reference to bonus money to mean annual management bonuses and not quarterly achievement bonuses. The special...