Howton v. Howton

PETERS, P. J.

Defendant appeals from an order made in a divorce action whereby the defendant husband was ordered, pendente lite, to pay to the plaintiff wife $75 per month towards her support and the support of the three minor children of the parties, $100 for attorney’s fees, and $15 costs.

Plaintiff filed her complaint for a divorce on November 13, 1940, charging extreme cruelty. On the same day, upon her affidavit, an order to show cause was issued to the husband directing him to appear on December 4, 1940. The defendant filed his opposing affidavit on that date. At the hearing defendant was required to, and did, pay plaintiff $50, which was used to pay taxes on the home of the parties owned by them in joint tenancy. The further hearing on the order to show cause was continued to December. 20, 1940, on which date, after taking evidence, the trial court made the order appealed from.

Appellant urges that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding $75 a month to the wife for her support and the support of the three children. The contention is without merit. The evidence produced at the hearing of December 20, 1940, and the affidavits filed by the parties, show that the wife and the three minor children who, in September, 1940, were 20, 19 and 18 years of age respectively live together and that the husband has left the family home. The wife works and earns, on an average, $70 per month; the 19 year old boy, who wants to save his earnings and go to college, earns about $100 per month; the daughter, who is 18, and who has just graduated from high school, earns $8 to

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$9 per week, and desires to continue her education; the oldest boy is attending Cal-Tech. where he has received a scholarship that pays him $150 per year, and where his tuition of $150 per year is borrowed from the school. The appellant, who is a sergeant in the police department, earns a little over $200 per month. The wife, in her affidavit, stated that she needs $153 a month to run the house, and, at the hearing, testified that she needed $80 to $85 in addition to her salary of $70 to run the house properly. Included within this estimate was a monthly payment on the loan on the house of $25.50 per month, and taxes and insurance of $7.50 per month. Prior to the separation it cost about $195 a month to run the house.