Prewitt v. Prewitt

• Citation: 56 Colo. 174,139 P. 1
• Parties: PREWITT v. PREWITT.
• Decision Date: 01 December 1913
• Court: Supreme Court of Colorado

139 P. 1

56 Colo. 174

PREWITT v. PREWITT.

Supreme Court of Colorado

December 1, 1913

Rehearing Denied March 2, 1914.

Error to Arapahoe County Court; George W. Dunn, Judge.

Action by Anna A. Prewitt against Francis E. Prewitt. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff brings error. Affirmed.

Rehearing denied en banc; Gabbert and White, JJ., dissenting.

Melville Sackett & Calvert, of Denver, for plaintiff in error.

Charles W. Waterman and James A. Harris, both of Denver, for defendant in error.

GARRIGUES J.

1. Anna Prewitt alleged in her complaint for divorce, which she filed in the county court of Arapahoe county July 16, 1909, that the amount for which alimony was sought did not exceed $2,000. July 17, 1909, she was granted a divorce decree and judgment for alimony, which, among other things, provided: 'IV. That on this day the said plaintiff shall be paid by the defendant the sum of $83.35 and the said defendant shall pay a like amount of money to said plaintiff on the 17th day of each and every succeeding month as permanent alimony.' August 14, 1911, she filed in the same court a petition asking that defendant be adjudged and ordered to pay her the sum of $100 per month thereafter, which defendant moved to strike on the ground that the final judgment for alimony and costs entered on the 17th of July, 1909, had been satisfied, and he asked the court to enter of record satisfaction of judgment. This was supported by an affidavit showing all the costs had been paid and that defendant had theretofore paid plaintiff $2,000 alimony in the aggregate, in monthly installments, which he claimed was the extent of the jurisdiction of the county court in allowing judgment for alimony. The payments were not disputed, and on hearing the court struck the petition from the files and ordered entered satisfaction of the alimony judgment. To review this ruling, plaintiff brings the case here on error.

2. This order was held in Prewitt v. Prewitt, 52 Colo. 522, 122 P 766, to be a final judgment. The question is: Can a county court in this state, when it enters a decree of divorce render judgment for alimony, where the maintenance of children is not involved, for a sum payable monthly in installments exceeding in the aggregate $2,000?

Article 6, § 23, of our Constitution, provides: 'County courts shall be courts of record and shall have original jurisdiction in all matters of probate, settlement of estates of deceased persons, appointment of guardians, conservators and administrators, and settlement of their a counts, and such other civil and criminal jurisdiction as may be conferred by law: Provided, such courts shall not have jurisdiction in any case where the debt, damage, or claim or value of property involved shall exceed two thousand dollars, except in cases relating to the estates of deceased persons.'

Section 1527, R. S. 1908, provides: 'In order to give the said courts jurisdiction in any action, suit or proceeding, the complaint or complaints shall state that the value of the property in controversy or the amount involved, for which relief is sought in said action, suit or proceeding, does not exceed the said sum of two thousand dollars. And in all actions for divorce the petition or bill of complaint shall...