Farrar v. Farrar

SLOANE, J.

Plaintiff brought his action in this case for a divorce on the ground of extreme cruelty. The defendant, by her cross-complaint, alleged desertion and adultery. The judgment was for defendant on the ground of desertion. The appeal is taken by plaintiff and cross-defendant from the part of the judgment disposing of the property rights, and awarding to defendant alimony and attorneys’ fees.

The findings, so far as material to this appeal, are in , substance as follows:

That plaintiff and defendant accumulated as comm,unity property the following property, and none other, to wit: The household furniture; the wearing apparel and personal effects of plaintiff and defendant; one automobile; and a mining interest of some kind or character in the state of Colorado.

That the following is separate property of the defendant: Easterly 41 feet of westerly 48 feet of Lot 28 in Block B of West Los Angeles; Lot 102 of Exposition Park Square, of Los Angeles; $350 in cash in possession of defendant.

That defendant has no income, but that she has about $350 in money on deposit. That plaintiff is at present em

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.ployed at a grocery-store in Barstow, California, at a monthly salary of $75, in addition to his hoard and room; that $35 per month is a reasonable amount for permanent alimony; that two hundred dollars' is a reasonable attorneys’ fee to be awarded defendant.

The judgment, as to the property rights, was in accordance with these findings, and divided the community property by giving to defendant the household furniture and her personal effects and wearing apparel, and to the plaintiff the automobile, the Colorado mining interest and his personal effects and wearing apparel; the court adjudging this to be an equal division in value of the community property. The defendant also had judgment for permanent alimony at $35 per month, and two hundred dollars attorneys’ fees.

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The main contention of appellant is that the evidence does not support the finding that the real property is the separate property of defendant. Most of appellant’s argument, however, is taken up with a discussion of the relative weight and credibility of the conflicting testimony on this point. That was a matter for the trial court. It may be conceded that defendant’s account of the resources from which she obtained title to this property is not very clear or convincing. She claims to have had three thousand dollars of which her husband was not aware at the time of their marriage, and as to the disposition of which, during the years previous to these real estate investments, she is very vague and noncommittal in her explanations. On the other hand, the only way appellant attempts to explain the purchase of these lots as community property, and which explanation is denied by respondent, is on the theory that a large proportion of the consideration paid for them was money saved by the respondent from an allowance of $50 per month, with perhaps one hundred dollars a year additional, which he paid to her for a period of several years. Incidentally it is conceded that she kept up all of the household expenses, and clothed herself out of this allowance. The consideration paid for the two properties was, $2,650 for the first described lot, on which the parties resided, and one thousand five hundred dollars for the other lot, aggregating $4,150. It is agreed that- Mrs. Farrar had at least six hundred dollars at her marriage, and from about seven hundred dollars to one thousand