Ryan v. Ryan, 12806.

• Decision Date: 08 March 1956
• Docket Number: No. 12806.,12806.
• Citation: Ryan v. Ryan, 230 F.2d 838, 97 U.S.App.D.C. 288 (D.C. Cir. 1956)
• Parties: John Robert RYAN, Appellant, v. Margaret Mann RYAN, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

97 US App. DC 288, 230 F.2d 838 (1956)

John Robert RYAN, Appellant, v. Margaret Mann RYAN, Appellee.

No. 12806.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued February 7, 1956.

Decided March 8, 1956.

Mr. Alton S. Bradford, Washington, D. C., for appellant.

Mr. Jean M. Boardman, Washington, D. C., with whom Mr. Ethelbert B. Frey, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellee.

Before WILBUR K. MILLER, BAZELON and DANAHER, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

At the suit of Margaret Mann Ryan, the District Court declared a Nevada divorce decree obtained July 6, 1954, by her husband, John Robert Ryan, to be invalid for want of jurisdiction in the court which entered it; and Margaret was declared to be the lawful wife of Robert, notwithstanding the aforesaid decree. The court also set aside a written property settlement agreement signed by the parties March 24, 1954, having found the husband obtained it by fraud and duress. Permanent maintenance and counsel fees were awarded to the wife. The husband appeals. Upon the findings and for the reasons given in District Judge Youngdahl's opinion, Oct. 27, 1954, 139 F.Supp. 98, we hold the judgment appealed from must be upheld.

The Hopson opinion¹ does not require this case to be remanded for the District Court to say whether it must hold the Nevada decree invalid. In that case the wife's suit for support and maintenance for herself and child was brought after the husband had obtained an allegedly invalid foreign decree. This court held that in some circumstances our District Court may grant maintenance to a former wife, even after a foreign divorce, but pointed out that the trial court should try to decide the maintenance question without reaching the issue of the validity of the foreign divorce decree. The opinion added, "If in fact and in law the foreign decree is invalid, the District...