Case Name: Daggett vs. Daggett
Court: New York Court of Chancery
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1835-08-31
Citations: 5 Paige Ch. 509
Docket Number: 
Parties: Daggett vs. Daggett.
Judges: 
Reporter: Paige's Chancery Reports
Volume: 5
Pages: 509–509

Head Matter:
Daggett vs. Daggett.
An a suit brought by the wife for a divorce, she cannot, previous to the decree dissolving the marriage, make any valid agreement, as to her allowance for alimony. And the court will not sanction any such agreement made by her, unless it satisfactorily appears that the allowance made in her favor for alimony is as much as she is fairly entitled to, under the circumstances of the case and from her husband’s situation as to property.
This was a bill filed by the wife for a divorce, on the ground of adultery, and the same was taken as confessed. The bill showed that the wife was sick and destitute of property, and that the defendant owned a farm, and was possessed of considerable personal estate.
The adultery of the defendant was clearly proved, and there was no doubt as to the right of the complainant to a decree for a divorce.
The counsel for the complainant, upon the hearing of the cause ex parte, suggested that a satisfactory agreement had been made between the parties as to alimony, and that no decree for alimony would be asked.

Opinion:
The Chancellor
said, that so long as the marriage contract remained in force, the wife was not legally competent to make a valid contract with her husband in relation to her right to alimony; and that such agreements made in advance, if sanctioned by the court without examination, would have a tendency to produce collusion between parties with a view to the dissolution of the marriage contract between them. That such agreements, therefore, if the parties wished them to receive the sanction of the court, must be shown to be perfectly fair and equitable in regard to the wife's right to a support out of the estate of the adulterer, or must be made after the bond of matrimony had actually been dissolved, as to the wife, by a decree of the court. The usual decree in this case was therefore directed, granting a divorce to the wife, with costs; and with liberty to apply to the court for further directions as to alimony, or for a reference to a master, to ascertain and report what was a suitable allowance to be made to her for that purpose.