Kressly v. Kressly

• Decision Date: 29 January 1958
• Docket Number: No. 9655,9655
• Parties: Alice M. KRESSLY, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Lloyd T. KRESSLY, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

Page 601

87 N.W.2d 601

77 S.D. 143

Alice M. KRESSLY, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Lloyd T. KRESSLY, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 9655.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Jan. 29, 1958.

Jackson & Krause, Lemmon, Whiting, Lynn & Freiberg, Rapid City, for defendant and appellant.

Morrison & Skaug, Mobridge, for plaintiff and respondent.

BOGUE, Judge.

The defendant appeals from a judgment granting a divorce and making a cash granting a divorce and making a cash award to the plaintiff.

The trial court found that plaintiff and defendant were married June 4, 1945; that defendant had inflicted mental and physical suffering upon the plaintiff; that defendant was the owner of real and personal property of the gross value of $213,990; that defendant owed $7,600 secured by a chattel mortgage and owed real and personal taxes in the amount of $4,100, leaving a net valuation of $202,290; that defendant owed plaintiff for back unpaid alimony in the sum of $4,200; that the reasonable fee for the receiver appointed by the court was $300; that the reasonable fee for receiver's attorney was $930 together with costs of $210.82; that a reasonable total fee for plaintiff's attorneys was the sum of $4,900 together with costs of $685, $1,500 of which has been paid; that after deducting the unpaid alimony, receiver's attorney's fees and costs there remained a net balance of $193,564.20; that the property could not be divided in kind and the only division equitable and fair to the parties was to make an allowance to the plaintiff of a cash award of one-third of the net balance or the sum of $64,500; that plaintiff be awarded the household goods and effects together with a Buick automobile. From the foregoing findings and conclusions of law based thereon, the trial court entered judgment granting plaintiff a divorce based upon extreme cruelty, directed the payment of the temporary alimony, receiver's fees and costs and attorney's fees and costs as set out in the findings and directed payment to the plaintiff of the sum of $64,500, said judgment further providing that the same would constitute a lien on all of defendant's property and unless paid within sixty days the plaintiff could proceed to sell or cause to be sold sufficient property belonging to defendant to satisfy the judgment.

The record further discloses that at the time of their marriage the plaintiff was twenty-one and the defendant forty-one years of age. It was a first marriage for the plaintiff and a second for the defendant. No children were born of this marriage. The defendant was a rancher owning considerable land and personal property at the time of his marriage to plaintiff. The plaintiff after finishing school taught for one year and worked for a brief time in Rapid City. She had accumulated approximately $900 at the time of marriage. After the marriage of the parties they resided on the ranch located near Lemmon, South Dakota, for about five years, then moved to an apartment in the city of Lemmon where defendant had acquired real property consisting of drive-in theater, dance hall, restaurant and partly finished motel. After the marriage of the parties the plaintiff became ill. It was necessary that she have certain surgical operations and she claims as the result thereof she was unable to bear children. She travelled considerably claiming that it was for her health at which time the defendant took care of the home by himself. Plaintiff admits that defendnat was a good provider, a hard worker and a very ambitious person. Plaintiff and defendant apparently got along quite well on the ranch but after moving to Lemmon their troubles began. It is unnecessary here to enumerate all of the acts complained of by both parties. The wealth of the defendant increased very little from the time of marriage to plaintiff until she left him in July of 1954. The plaintiff did some work to assist defendant during the marriage such as assisting in the operation of the theater in Lemmon and as a housewife but apparently did not participate in the actual business affairs of the defendant. Defendant at the time of the trial and for some years prior thereto suffered from undulant fever. The plaintiff, aside from a nervous condition which she claimed existed because of the acts of the defendant, was in apparent good health.

Defendant contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the findings relative to the acts of the defendant inflicting mental and physical suffering upon plaintiff, the extent and value of defendant's property and the amount of defendant's indebtedness. There is considerable conflict in the evidence as to these matters. We believe, however, that there is no clear preponderance of evidence against these findings and thus find no error in regard thereto. Kuehn v. Kuehn, 74 S.D. 521, 55 N.W.2d 70.

Defendant further contends that the award to plaintiff is grossly excessive. The judgment provides:

'That defendant (plaintiff) have and recover of defendant the sum of $64,500, this being in full and complete settlement of any and all claims or interest she may have, or claim to have, in the property of the parties hereto. Any balance shall be and is considered and intended to be in lieu of any and all claims for support and alimony and is a lump sum settlement and award of any and all of such claims and no periodical payments are intended or contemplated hereunder.'

SDC 14.0726 provides:

'Where a divorce is granted for an offense of the husband, the court may compel him to provide for the maintenance of the children of the marriage, and to make such suitable allowance to the wife for her support during her life or for a shorter period, as the court may deem just, having regard to the circumstances of the parties represented; and the court may from time to time modify its orders in these respects.

'Where a divorce is granted for an offense of either husband or wife, the courts shall in such action have full power to make an equitable division of the property belonging to either or both, whether the title to such property is in the name of the husband or the wife. In making such division of the property the court shall have regard for equity and the circumstances of the parties.'

Where a divorce is granted for an offense of the husband, the trial court has the discretionary power to make both a suitable allowance to the wife and an equitable division of the property. Kuehn v. Kuehn, supra. In either the making of a suitable allowance or in the making of an equitable division of the property the award to the wife may be in a lump sum, Williams v. Williams, 6 S.D. 284, 61 N.W. 38; Abrams v. Abrams, 124 Colo. 1, 232 P.2d 742; 27 C.J.S. Divorce § 292, or it may be a division of specific property, Warne v. Warne, 36 S.D. 573, 156 N.W. 60. By reason thereof the courts oftentimes in awarding a lump sum or specific property make no designation as to whether the award is being made as a suitable allowance or as an equitable division or both. From the language of this judgment it appears that the award to the plaintiff is both. Whether an award made to a wife in a lump sum or of specific property is made as a suitable allowance or as an equitable division of property or of both, substantially the same factors must be considered. This court has pointed out in numerous cases that the principal factors to be considered are: The duration of the marriage, the value of the property of each, their ages, their health and competency to earn, the contribution of each to the accumulation of the property and the faults and circumstances leading up to the divorce. Tuttle v. Tuttle, 26 S.D. 545, 128 N.W. 695; Caldwell v. Caldwell, 58 S.D 472, 237 N.W. 568; Peterson v. Peterson, 71 S.D. 314, 24 N.W.2d 35.

In the present case the value of the property of the defendant as found by the court is considerable and the divorce was granted to the plaintiff for an offense of the defendant. The trial court apparently gave much weight to these two factors. The record reveals, however, that the plaintiff was not without fault and that at least a part of the actions of the defendant which plaintiff complains of were not without some provocation. Although the divorce is granted for an offense of the husband yet the acts of both husband and wife leading up to the divorce must be considered by the court in the making of an award to the wife.

After determining the extent and value of defendant's property and concluding that plaintiff was entitled to a divorce for the fault of the defendant the trial...