Madsen v. Madsen, 6197
| Citation | 111 N.H. 315,282 A.2d 667 |
| Decision Date | 05 October 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 6197,6197 |
| Parties | Mary K. MADSEN v. Harry V. MADSEN. |
| Court | Supreme Court of New Hampshire |
Perkins, Holland, Donovan & Beckett, Exeter (Robert B. Donovan, Exeter, orally) for plaintiff.
Scammon, Gage & Whitman, Exeter (Robert G. Whitman, Exeter, orally) for defendant.
This case comes before the court for a second time upon an exception by the defendant to an order of the superior court renewing a prior order which required the defendant to pay to the plaintiff, his former wife, the sum of $300 per month for her support. RSA 458:19; see Madsen v. Madsen, 106 N.H. 267, 209 A.2d 728 (1965); Madsen v. Madsen, 109 N.H. 457, 255 A.2d 604 (1969). The relative situations of the parties, who are now in their mid-forties, remain substantially as described in the prior opinions.
While it was open to the trial court to decline to exercise its continuing jurisdiction, since each party is now a resident of another state (Madsen v. Madsen, 109 N.H. 457, 255 A.2d 604 (1969); Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws s. 26, comments a, g and illustrations 9 & 10 (1971)), the court did not err in denying the defendant's motion asking it to do so. The plaintiff resides in Florida, and justice does not require that she seek relief in Virginia where the defendant now resides, in preference to New Hampshire where the proceedings originated. See Sheffield v. Sheffield, 207 Va. 288, 148 S.E.2d 771 (1966).
Doubtless in enacting RSA 458:19 the legislature considered that in many cases of childless marriages terminating in divorce a period of three or six years will suffice to enable a wife to establish her own source of income, so that an allowance from her former husband should reasonably be discontinued.
In the case before us however the circumstances findably were such as to warrant renewal of the prior order beyond the period of six years. In concluding that the order should again be extended for three years, the trial court was called upon to consider, among other things, the circumstances surrounding the 1961 divorce, including the defendant's agreement with the plaintiff that he would make payments for her support during her lifetime or until her remarriage, in amounts which should increase as his income increased; and that since the last previous hearing, while the plaintiff's earned income had increased from $6600 to about $10,000, the defendant's earned income had also risen from $29,000 in 1967 to $38,640 in 1969, and $24,450 for six and one-half...
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Calderwood v. Calderwood
...a life-time profit-sharing plan' for the wife. H. Clark, Law of Domestic Relations § 14.9, at 460 (1968). As noted in Madsen v. Madsen, 111 N.H. 315, 282 A.2d 667 (1971), the enactment of RSA 458:19 suggests that in appropriate cases a limited period of time for support of a wife where no c......
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Morphy v. Morphy, 6480
...108 N.H. 469, 238 A.2d 598.' Madsen v Madsen, 109 N.H. 457, 459, 255 A.2d 604, 605 (1969) (Madsen II); accord, Madsen v. Madsen, 111 N.H. 315, 282 A.2d 667 (1971) (Madsen III). Since the support order had, expired before the defendant ceased making his support payments, he could not thereby......