Foster v. Foster

FOURT, J.

This is an appeal from an order wherein the court ordered the appellant pay to the respondent’s new counsel, on account of attorney’s fees, the sum of $1,000, and further, to pay to the respondent, in addition to the sum of $400 per month previously ordered, the sum of $75 per month.

The facts of the case, as disclosed by the files and records, are substantially as follows: The parties hereto were each previously married to and divorced from another spouse at least once. The respondent, hereinafter referred to as the wife, had, prior to her marriage to the appellant, hereinafter referred to as the husband, lived in California sometimes with and sometimes separated from her then husband. The husband herein was, at the time of his marriage to the wife herein, divorced from another wife and was paying her alimony in the sum of $250 per month plus $300 per month for the support and maintenance of two minor children of that marriage. The parties here' were married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on or about June 20,1953, and separated about April 8, 1955. Apparently the marriage took place on the day of the divorce of the wife herein from a previous husband.

The wife brought this action wherein she alleged extreme cruelty and seeks a judgment for separate support and maintenance. The husband’s answer denies the existence of the marriage relationship and the alleged acts of extreme cruelty. He also filed a cross-complaint for annulment, and in the alternative, for a divorce.

An order to show cause with reference to alimony, attorney’s fees and costs was secured by the wife and returned and heard before Judge Mosk in Department B, Santa Monica, on June 3, 1955. After a full and complete hearing on that date the judge ordered the husband to pay to the wife the sum of $400 a month for support and maintenance, plus the sum of $250 on account of costs and the sum of $1,500 on account of the wife’s attorney’s fees, and pursuant to stipulation between counsel for the parties, the balance of attor

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ney’s fees, if any, was to be set at the time of trial. The amounts so ordered were all paid by the husband.

Thereafter the wife secured an order to show cause with reference to a modification of the order of June 3, 1955, based upon her affidavit that she required over $800 per month for her support and maintenance, additional fees for her new attorney, and additional sums for costs. This order with reference to a modification of the original order was heard on April 13, 1956, in the superior court, Santa Monica, Department C, before Judge Odemar, and at the conclusion of the hearing the judge ordered that the husband pay additional attorney’s fees, on account, in the sum of $1,000, and the sum of $475 for a 13-month period for the wife’s support and maintenance. This appeal is from the order of April 13,1956.