Wetmore v. Wetmore, 24-71
| Decision Date | 07 December 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 24-71,24-71 |
| Citation | 285 A.2d 711,129 Vt. 583 |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
| Parties | Truda WETMORE v. Lloyd WETMORE. |
Bloomer & Bloomer, Rutland, for plaintiff.
Conley & Foote, Middlebury, for defendant.
Before HOLDEN, C. J., and SHANGRAW, BARNEY, SMITH and KEYSER, JJ.
Over the objection of the libellant, the trial court ordered this divorce on for hearing simultaneously with the libellee's petition to amend the temporary order. The matter had been pending over a year and the libellee urged that it be disposed of. The trial court made findings and issued a judgment order granting the libellant a divorce on the grounds of intolerable severity. She received custody of the three minor children and a share of the real estate holdings of the parties as well as a support order of fifty dollars a week. The libellee alleges that the findings do not support the decree of divorce, and faults the court for failing to separately deal with the issue of his petition relating to the temporary order and for what he claims is an abuse of discretion in the visitation rights granted in the decree.
The trial court made findings indicating that the libellant's health was seriously affected by the libellee's treatment of her to the point of attempted suicide, and her condition required medical attention and medication. The court concluded that her physical and mental well-being were threatened to the point of imminent danger.
The findings summarize this treatment as including intimacy with another woman, frequent and prolonged unexplained absences from home, and a rejection of the libellant, including the statement that he no longer loved her. All of these findings derive from controverted testimony in a strongly contested case. The quantity of testimony about this aspect of the marital difficulties was not great, but the facts found by the trial court are to be found in it. As has been so many times said, such findings must stand if they have evidentiary support. Tucker v. Tucker, 127 Vt. 252, 254, 246 A.2d 707.
The findings themselves do sufficiently establish the legal measure of intolerable severity. The test of actions aggravated enough to threaten the health of the libellant to the point of 'present and imminent danger', set out in Winslow v. Winslow, 127 Vt. 428, 431, 251 A.2d 419, is expressly met in the findings.
The libellee is concerned because the issues connected with his petition to revise the temporary order were not dealt with. We view those issues as merged with the disposition of the case on its merits, since the property, support money and custodial rights are all fully dealt with. To move in and settle the relationships of the parties was proper and desirable. See LaVoice v. LaVoice, 125 Vt. 236, 238, 214 A.2d 53. The libellee welcomed this procedure, even though the libellant objected to it. The issuance of the new order supercedes the requirements of the temporary order, and, with both sides raising...
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Chaker v. Chaker
...with the general law that temporary maintenance orders merge into, and are superseded by, the final order. See Wetmore v. Wetmore, 129 Vt. 583, 585, 285 A.2d 711, 713 (1971); see also Saunders v. Saunders, 140 Conn. 140, 146, 98 A.2d 815, 818 (1953) (order for alimony pendente lite is inter......
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Palmer v. Palmer, 229-79
...of this discretion is shown to be clearly unreasonable or untenable, the trial court's decision will be upheld, Wetmore v. Wetmore, 129 Vt. 583, 586, 285 A.2d 711, 713 (1971), as we cannot, in place of the trial court, weigh facts and reach our own conclusions. Davidson v. Davidson, 111 Vt.......
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Lynch v. Lynch
...per week per child is not unreasonable, and, based on the evidence, is not out of the reach of the defendant. See Wetmore v. Wetmore, 129 Vt. 583, 585, 285 A.2d 711, 713 (1971). Defendant's next claim of error concerns the award of maintenance and disposition of the marital property. The re......
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Cleary v. Cleary, 144-75
...presumption, and it is not for this Court, in any event, to weigh such considerations in place of the trial court. Wetmore v. Wetmore, 129 Vt. 583, 586, 285 A.2d 711 (1971). The libelant would bind the libelee to the order because of his failure to request findings. The shortage of findings......