Wood v. Wood, 25446
| Decision Date | 07 December 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 25446,25446 |
| Citation | 461 S.W.2d 286 |
| Parties | John H. WOOD, Jr., Appellant, v. Concetta WOOD, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
The Legal Aid & Defender Society of Greater Kansas City, Paul T. Miller, Executive Director, Kansas City, Donald O. Tripp, Managing Atty., Civil Division, Liberty, for appellant.
Von Erdmannsdorff & Kuhlman, North Kansas City, for respondent.
JAMES W. BROADDUS, Special Commissioner.
Respondent, Concetta Wood, now Concetta Franklin, on July 29, 1969, filed a motion to modify a decree of divorce, said decree having been entered by the Circuit Court of Clay County on November 12, 1964. The motion was sustained on October 9, 1969, and Concetta was granted the care and custody of three minor children born of the marriage between herself and appellant John H. Wood, Jr. The ages of the children at the time of the hearing of the motion were David 8, Julia 7, and Robert 5.
Appellant, John Wood, Jr., while stationed in Italy with the Armed Forces, met and married Concetta Wood, now Franklin, when she was still in her early teens. She spoke little or no English. In 1962 John brought his new wife to the United States, and they lived with his parents in Liberty, Missouri. John was called back into the Armed Forces and Concetta went with him to the State of Washington.
After John was discharged from the Armed Services he and Concetta rode in a car to Liberty. Riding with them was a friend of John's by the name of Ralph Stout who also had been in the Armed Services. Stout's home was in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and John and Concetta Wood took him there. As related by Concetta 'he (Stout) told me before we got to his home (Stout's) he knew how we were getting along, my husband and I, and he said if I ever needed any help just write to his mother or just call or come down and she would help me out, and so when we stopped and brought him home I met her and talked to her, and she told me that I was welcome and to come if I ever needed any help.'
In the early part of 1963 Concetta left John and went to the Stout home in Oskaloosa. She did not take the children with her at that time 'because I didn't know what I was going to do.' John continued to live with the children with his parents in Liberty.
Concetta attempted to obtain a divorce in Iowa but was told that she did not meet the residency requirements. John filed for divorce in Clay County, Missouri, and Concetta cross-filed. Upon the date that the divorce was to be heard, Concetta made the 8 hour bus trip from Iowa for the hearing, only to find that John had taken an overdose of sleeping pills and that the divorce hearing had to be postponed. It was after spending several months at the VA Hospital, as a result of the sleeping pills, John called up the divorce for hearing and Concetta, apparently through some confusion, arising out of her limited use of the English language, did not appear. The divorce was granted to John and he was awarded custody of the children.
After the divorce John and the children continued to live with his parents. Later, John married a woman with three children of her own and since that marriage they have had three other children. John at the time of the hearing of the Motion to Modify lived with his wife, Diana, and the nine children in Liberty.
Concetta, after leaving Liberty, lived with the parents of Mr. Wood's friend, Stout, in Oskaloosa, for a period of several months before getting an apartment with another girl with whom she worked. She was employed consistently since the divorce and had studied for and passed her examination and earned her American Citizenship in December of 1968. She married Larry Franklin in August of 1967. At the time of the hearing she was living with Mr. Franklin on a 15 acre tract of land about five miles east of Oskaloosa.
After the separation in 1963, the children were in the custody of John until Concetta had established herself in Oskaloosa. She then came and took the children for a period of time to Oskaloosa. After several months, Mr. Wood and his family came to Oskaloosa and took the children by force and brought them to Clay County, Missouri. Later, while Mr. Wood was hospitalized in the VA Hospital for several months as a result of taking the overdose of sleeping pills, Concetta again took the children to Iowa. The children were again returned to the home of Mr. Wood's parents and were staying there at the time of the divorce. The first time Concetta knew that the divorce had been granted and that custody of the children had been given to John, was a few months after the divorce when she came to see the children. They were with his parents at that time. She came...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Warman v. Warman
...of condition which is sufficient to sustain the order of the trial court. Swan v. Swan, 262 S.W.2d 312 (Mo.App.1953); Wood v. Wood, 461 S.W.2d 286 (Mo.App.1970). The issue respecting a denial of visitation is more difficult. Respondent has not directly countered the point raised by appellan......
-
Eissler v. Eissler
...are more nearly in point on the facts than any cited by either party. These are Swan v. Swan, Mo.App., 262 S.W.2d 312, and Wood v. Wood, Mo.App., 461 S.W.2d 286. The result reached and the reasoning applied are persuasive In Swan, supra, the custody was granted to the paternal grandfather a......