Title: Eaton v. Johnston

State: kansas

Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court

Document:

235 Kan. 323 (1984)
681 P.2d 606
JODIE E. EATON, formerly JODIE E. JOHNSTON, Appellee,
v.
BILLIE WAYNE JOHNSTON, Appellant.
No. 55,271

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed April 27, 1984.
Lester A. Holloway, of Wichita, was on the brief for appellant.
Stephen B. Plummer, of Rumsey, Richey & Plummer, of Wichita, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
McFARLAND, J.:
This is an action in which defendant Billie Wayne Johnston has appealed from the district court's determination that a common law marriage between defendant and plaintiff Jodie E. Johnston (now Eaton) did not exist and the court's refusal to consider a division of property. The Court of Appeals heard the appeal and affirmed the district court's judgment as to the nonexistence of a common law marriage but reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings relative to division of property. Eaton v. Johnston, 9 Kan. App.2d 63, 672 P.2d 10 (1983). The matter is before this court on petition for review granted to the plaintiff.
We adopt the statement of facts contained in the Court of Appeals opinion as follows:
The first issue before us is whether there was substantial competent evidence to support the district court's finding there was no common law marriage between the parties.
We believe the Court of Appeals adequately disposed of this issue and adopt the following portion of the intermediate appellate court's opinion:
The next matter to be determined is plaintiff's motion for summary disposition on the issue relative to property division.
Supreme Court Rule 7.041 (232 Kan. cxvii) permits summary disposition of an appeal:
Plaintiff contends Perrenoud v. Perrenoud, 206 Kan. 559, 480 P.2d 749 (1971), is dispositive of the issue of whether a district court, having found no common law marriage to have existed, may order an equitable division of the property accumulated during the period of cohabitation.
We do not agree. Perrenoud involved a situation where a divorce was granted in California with the plaintiff husband being awarded custody of the minor children who were residing in California with him except when his ex-wife had them for holidays in Kansas. At the end of one summer vacation the wife refused to return the children to California. The husband sought to enforce the California custody order in Johnson County, Kansas, by habeas corpus proceedings. The wife filed for a divorce action in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Perrenoud is clearly not a prior controlling appellate decision on the issue *326 before us and the motion for summary disposition is, accordingly, denied.
We turn now to the final issue which is whether the trial court erred in holding it lacked authority to make an equitable division of the property accumulated by the parties during the post-divorce cohabitation period without benefit of formal or common law marriage.
The Court of Appeals in discussing the issue stated:
We have no difficulty in concluding the Court of Appeals correctly held the trial court "in the exercise of its inherent power to do equity independent of the statute [K.S.A. 60-1606 (Weeks)], was authorized to make an equitable division of the property accumulated by the parties during the period they were living together." The cases cited by the Court of Appeals relative thereto adequately support this conclusion. In addition to the portion of Werner v. Werner, 59 Kan. 399, 53 Pac. 127 (1898), cited by the Court of Appeals, we add the following:
We have difficulty, however, with the conclusion of the Court of Appeals that K.S.A. 60-1606 (Weeks) authorizes the trial court to make a division of the property under the circumstances herein. The applicable version of the statute provides:
The district court held there was no common law marriage between the parties. As stated in Perrenoud v. Perrenoud, 206 Kan. 559:
Is a finding no marriage existed synonymous with the denial of *329 a divorce within the purview of K.S.A. 60-1606 (Weeks)? We believe not.
Benewiat v. Benewiat, 181 Kan. 621, 313 P.2d 251 (1957), cited by the Court of Appeals, does indicate property may be divided pursuant to G.S. 1949, 60-1506 (predecessor to K.S.A. 60-1606 [Weeks]) where no common law marriage is found to exist, but goes on to categorize the action as "purely equitable in nature." p. 623.
Schrader v. Schrader, 207 Kan. 349, 484 P.2d 1007 (1971), also relied upon by the Court of Appeals, does not squarely address the issue before us. In Schrader the parties had been married and divorced and had subsequently resumed cohabitation. A second divorce action was commenced to dissolve the alleged common law marriage. The trial court found no common law marriage existed. The defendant appealed claiming error inter alia on the trial court's failure to change custody of the minor child to him. Custody had been granted in the original divorce action to the plaintiff. The opinion states the trial court treated the custody issue as "a motion to change custody in the old divorce case." In any event, the custody issue in Schrader really revolved around the judicial decision, on the merits, not to change custody rather than the authority of the trial court to determine the matter.
We conclude K.S.A. 60-1606 (Weeks) does not authorize a district court to make an equitable division of the property of the parties after a finding that no common law marriage existed. Language indicating otherwise in Benewiat and Schrader is disapproved. As previously held herein, the trial court did have authority, in the exercise of its inherent power to do equity, to make an equitable division of the property  said authority being independent of K.S.A. 60-1606 (Weeks). We, therefore, approve and adopt the ultimate conclusion of the Court of Appeals as follows:
*330 The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed as modified; the judgment of the district court is affirmed in part and reversed in part with directions.
PRAGER, J., concurs in the result.