Warren v. Warren
| Decision Date | 02 May 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 2944,2944 |
| Citation | 361 P.2d 525 |
| Parties | Alpha Louise WARREN, Appellant (Defendant below), v. Francis E. WARREN, Appellee (Plaintiff below). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Guy & Phelan, Walter B. Phelan, Cheyenne, for appellant.
Greenwood, Ferrall, Bloomfield, Osborn & Lynch, Loomis, Lazear & Wilson, Bard Ferrall, Cheyenne, for appellee.
Before BLUME, C. J., and PARKER, HARNSBERGER and McINTYRE, JJ.
The plaintiff, Francis E. Warren, sued for divorce from the defendant, Alpha Louise Warren, and for custody of the three minor children of plaintiff and defendant. The decree of the district court granted a divorce to plaintiff; provided for temporary custody of the children; awarded permanent alimony, attorney fees and suit money to the wife; and made a disposition of property. From this decree the defendant has appealed claiming that the trial court erred in failing to set over to her any part of the property owned by plaintiff. No other issue is presented.
The trial of the case lasted for five days and the transcript of testimony is voluminous. It is replete with evidence of inexcusable misconduct on the part of defendant, mostly behavior stemming from continued excessive drinking, particularly during the last two years of the marriage. It would serve no purpose to review or to attempt to recount all of the acts of nonfeasance and misfeasance of which she would appear from the evidence to be guilty. It is not contended that grounds for the granting of a divorce to plaintiff were absent, and counsel for defendant in his brief admits that the evidence was, in some respects, 'rather overwhelming' that she had misconducted herself during a period of some two years.
On the other hand, it could scarcely be said that plaintiff was entirely without fault. Mrs. Warren had sued him for divorce in 1956, but a reconciliation was effected in December 1956. After that he kept a record of the activities of his wife. He hired detectives to follow her and made tape recordings of her telephone conversations. During this period he did not strike or offer physical abuse to defendant. It would seem that he mostly ignored her. Mrs. Warren described his behavior by saying that after the reconciliation he became 'a total, polite stranger.'
At the time the divorce was granted, defendant held property in her name consisting of stock valued at $17,186.25; Government bonds worth $400; and an automobile probably worth $2,000. These items of property, with a total valuation of $19,586.25, were set over to or left to remain as property of the wife. In addition the home with furnishings, which had previously been in the name of both husband and wife, was to be sold. The wife was to be given one-half of the net proceeds or $35,000 whichever was the greater. Counsel for both parties indicated in oral argument on appeal that a subsequent arrangement was made between the parties themselves with respect to the home and furnishings, which arrangement probably would result in the wife receiving a net of approximately $35,000 from a sale of such property and the husband receiving nothing therefrom.
Aside from these property benefits distributed to or left in the name of defendant, she was granted permanent alimony of $500 per month as long as the defendant should live, or until she shall have remarried, and said permanent alimony was made a charge against plaintiff's estate. She was allowed an attorney's fee of $3,500 and suit money in the amount of $500. For purposes of comparison, it is sufficiently correct to say that the defendant-wife has been left with a total of $54,586.25 in property, plus a cash payment of $500 per month.
The plaintiff-husband was left with property valued at approximately $750,000, including nothing for the home and furnishings. Substantially all of this property was inherited by plaintiff subsequent to his marriage to defendant. It includes an interest in his mother's estate valued at $317,000 and not yet distributed. Most of the other property was derived from his father's estate following his death in 1949. A few shares in Warren Livestock Company had been given to plaintiff by his father prior to his death and some were inherited from his grandparents. Except for $16,000 in stock of the American National Bank, $1,250 in stock of Cheyenne Apartment Co., $18,725 in Government bonds, and bank accounts which amounted to some $13,000 at the time of the divorce, the rest of plaintiff's property is in stock of Warren companies controlled by plaintiff and his sister.
Admittedly, the wife neither brought nor contributed any substantial property to the marriage. Also, the property in her name at the time of the divorce, which was allowed to her in the divorce decree, came from plaintiff or from property inherited by him.
On several previous occasions this court has set out in full the Wyoming statute, § 20-63, W.S.1957, which pertains to the division of property in divorce cases. It provides that in granting a divorce the court shall make such disposition of the property of the parties as shall appear just and equitable, having regard to the respective merits of the parties and to the condition in which they will be left by such divorce, and to the party through whom the property was acquired. Said section also provides that the court may decree to the wife reasonable alimony out of the estate of the husband.
Also on several previous occasions this court has announced these principles with respect to property divisions in divorce cases: (1) In making a division of property under the statute the trial court exercises a discretion; (2) there are no hard and fast rules to control its action; (3) the statute does not require an equal division; (4) a just and equitable division is as likely as not to be unequal; and (5) the decision of the trial court should not be disturbed, except on clear grounds, as that court is usually in a better...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Muller v. Muller
...lump sum award was modified on appeal into periodic payments to meet an ability to pay standard for the husband. In Warren v. Warren, 361 P.2d 525, 528 (Wyo.1961), what was constituted in the decree to be alimony was reconstructed by this court into part of the property settlement for a res......
-
Dorr v. Newman
...settlement is just and equitable should be determined as of the date of the decree. Kane v. Kane, 577 P.2d 172 (Wyo.1978); Warren v. Warren, 361 P.2d 525 (Wyo.1961). "As a general rule, a final judgment is conclusive both as to the relief granted and as to the relief denied or withheld, and......
-
Wallop v. Wallop
...of the parties. ... Wyo. Stat. § 20-2-114 includes as a factor, "the party through whom the property was acquired...." In Warren v. Warren, 361 P.2d 525 (Wyo. 1961), we held property, which was inherited by or given to that party, can properly be awarded to the party by whom it was inherite......
-
Maher v. Maher
...the death of either party or on the remarriage of the payee." Sellers v. Sellers, 775 P.2d 1029, 1032 (Wyo. 1989) (accord Warren v. Warren, 361 P.2d 525 (Wyo. 1961)). There was also language in Neagle v. Neagle, 481 P.2d 661, 663 (Wyo. 1971) (Neagle I), which indicates "alimony payments . .......