Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/81754/cheever-vs-wilson
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 14:37:08+00:00

Document:
"Now comes S. Yandes, Esq., attorney for B. H. Cheever, and L. Barton, Esq., attorney for Annie Jane Cheever, and on their motion each of said parties has leave to withdraw their respective depositions filed in this Court at the last term thereof, in the cause then pending for divorce between said Cheever and Cheever. "
to Wilson. Cheever, disregarding this part of the instrument, demanded his one-third of Mrs. Cheever's two-thirds, and Wilson setting up his prior right, and refusing to pay, Cheever now filed a bill in the court below, against him, Mrs. Cheever (now called Worcester), and her new husband, Worcester himself, setting out the divorce, order &c.;, and praying for a specific performance of the Indiana order as to the portion of the rents allotted to him, and for general relief.
of which one-third, the whole two-thirds of Mrs. Cheever-Worcester's rents were to be devoted; and, as the reporter understood his view -- this part of the case not having been argued here -- he held [ Footnote 2 ] that Wilson was bound on the principle of subrogation to pay so much of Cheever's third as had been thus displaced; the effect of the auditor's whole view being to throw Wilson on later rents for reimbursement of advances not secured by the trust deed (the only ones as yet unpaid), and leaving to Mrs. Cheever-Worcester, for a considerable time, nothing but the dower one-third which had fallen in by her mother's death.
&c.; The property embraced in the settlement is designated in the proceedings as "the Avenue property," and "the Sixth Street property." On the 8th of September, 1842, the parties were married. On the 10th of September, 1855, Mrs. Cheever and Mrs. Hughes executed to the defendant, Wilson, a lease of the Avenue property for five years, from the 1st of October, 1855, at an annual rent of $1300, to be paid quarterly. On the 26th of November, 1856, they executed a deed of trust to Carlisle and Maury, to secure certain advances therein mentioned, made, and to be made, by the defendant Wilson, to Mrs. Cheever.
The decree rendered in Indiana, so far as it related to the real property in question, could have no extraterritorial effect, but if valid, it bound personally those who were parties in the case, and could have been enforced in the situs rei, by the proper proceedings conducted there for that purpose. [ Footnote 4 ] But no question arises upon that subject. The assignment executed by Mrs. Worcester to the complainant, of the 27th of August, 1857, in pursuance of the decree, was ample to vest in him the interest and authority which the court ordered her to convey. The reservation in behalf of Wilson was only what the law without it would have prescribed, and did not impair its efficacy, or limit what would otherwise have been the scope of its effect and operation.
It would be a sufficient answer to the questions raised as to the validity of this decree, that no such issue is made in the pleadings. The answer of Mrs. Worcester is silent upon the subject. Wilson, in his answer, says he "does not admit the validity or regularity of said decree," or that "it is operative to affect his rights," but, on the contrary, "reserves to himself the right to impeach it if occasion should offer and require him to do so." This language is too vague and indefinite to have any effect. If he desired to assail the decree, he should have stated clearly the grounds of objection upon which he proposed to rely. The averments should have been such that issue could be taken upon them. [ Footnote 6 ] He and his co-defendant are precluded by the settled rules of equity jurisprudence from entering upon such an inquiry. Their silence is an admission, and they are bound by the implication. As, however, the question has been fully argued upon both sides, and may arise hereafter in further litigation between the parties, we deem it proper to express our views upon the subject.
It is said the petitioner went to Indiana to procure the divorce, and that she never resided there. The only question is as to the reality of her new residence and of the change of domicil. [ Footnote 10 ] That she did reside in the county where the petition was filed is expressly found by the decree. Whether this finding is conclusive or only prima facie sufficient is a point on which the authorities are not in harmony. [ Footnote 11 ] We do not deem it necessary to express any opinion upon the point. The finding is clearly sufficient until overcome by adverse testimony. None adequate to that result is found in the record. Giving to what there is the fullest effect it only raises a suspicion that the animus manendi may have been wanting.
The statute of Indiana enacted that "the court, in decreeing a divorce, shall make provision for the guardianship, custody, and support, and education of the minor children of such marriage." [ Footnote 14 ] That part of the decree which relates to this subject has been already sufficiently considered. Barber v. Barber, [ Footnote 15 ] has an important bearing upon the case under consideration. There a wife had obtained a divorce a mensa et thoro, and an allowance of alimony, in the state of New York. The husband afterwards removed to Wisconsin. To enforce the payment of the alimony she sued him in equity in the district court of the United States for that district. The court was clothed with equity powers. The ground of federal jurisdiction relied upon was the domicil of the husband and wife in different states. The court decreed for the complainant. This Court, on appeal, recognized the validity of the original decree, sustained the jurisdiction, and affirmed the decree of the court below. This is conclusive upon several of the most important points involved in the case before us.
Sutphen v. Fowler, 9 Paige 280; Massie v. Watts, 6 Cranch 148, 10 U. S. 158 ; Swann v. Fonnereau, 3 Vesey Jr. 44; Portarlington v. Soulby, 3 Mylne & Keene 104; Monroe v. Douglass, 4 Sanford's Chancery 185; Shattuck v. Cassidy, 3 Edwards' Chancery 152; 1 Story's Eq. §§ 743, 744.

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