Keyser v. Keyser

• Citation: 186 N.W. 438,193 Iowa 16
• Decision Date: 14 February 1922
• Docket Number: 34548
• Parties: ELMER KEYSER, Appellee, v. PAULINE KEYSER, Appellant
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa

186 N.W. 438

193 Iowa 16

ELMER KEYSER, Appellee, v. PAULINE KEYSER, Appellant

No. 34548

Supreme Court of Iowa, Des Moines

February 14, 1922

Appeal from Woodbury District Court.--C. C. HAMILTON, Judge.

APPEAL from an application modifying a decree of alimony.

Reversed.

Naglestad & Pizey, for appellant.

No appearance for appellee.

FAVILLE J. STEVENS, C. J., EVANS and ARTHUR, JJ., concur.

OPINION

FAVILLE, J.

On March 11, 1921, the appellant obtained a decree of divorce from the appellee, and was awarded the custody of the four minor children of said parties. By said decree it was ordered that the appellee pay to the appellant the sum of $ 75 per month, for the support of said minor children. The award as to alimony was made in pursuance of a stipulation between the parties, which was approved by the court and entered in the decree. On September 9, 1921, the appellee presented his application for a modification of the said award of alimony, and prayed a reduction of the same, and, on hearing, the court reduced said award from $ 75 per month to $ 60 per month. The defendant appeals, claiming that said reduction was erroneous. We are required to review the case de novo.

Code Section 3180 provides as follows:

"When a divorce is decreed, the court may make such order in relation to the children, property, parties, and the maintenance of the parties as shall be right. Subsequent changes may be made by it in these respects, when circumstances render them expedient."

The application in the instant case is made under this section, the claim being that the circumstances disclosed at the time of the trial render a change in the amount of alimony expedient. While the statute contemplates that changes may be made in an award of alimony after a final decree has been entered, it is only when there has been a substantial change in the conditions of the parties that a modification should be made. An award of alimony entered in a final decree is not to be regarded as a variable sum, to be adjusted either upward or downward with each fluctuating change in the conditions of the respective parties. Such a decree is entered at the time, with a view to reasonable and ordinary changes that may be likely to occur in the relations of the parties. At the time such an award is made in a final decree, the court should take into consideration all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the parties at the time, and also the reasonable prospects regarding their future condition, and make such an award as will fairly and reasonably be right and proper, under all of the circumstances. When this is done, such decree is conclusive, and should not be disturbed, unless it is made to appear that the enforcement of the decree will be attended by positive wrong or injustice, under changed conditions. This is the well established and recognized rule of this court. In Crockett v. Crockett, 132 Iowa 388, 106 N.W. 944. we said:

"And in the light of the statute, and giving construction thereto, we have held repeatedly that a decree fixing custody or awarding alimony, etc., is conclusive, unless it shall be made to appear, that, by reason of some change of circumstances or condition not known to or within the contemplation of the court, an enforcement of its decree will be attended by positive wrong or injustice. Blythe v. Blythe, 25 Iowa 266; Wilde v. Wilde, 36 Iowa 319; White v. White, 75 Iowa 218, 39 N.W. 277; Reid v. Reid, 74 Iowa 681; Ferguson v. Ferguson, 111 Iowa 158, 82 N.W. 490."

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