Opinion ID: 1721534
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: was the amount of the award of separate maintenance just and equitable?

Text: It must not be overlooked that the final judgment ordered that the final judgment ordered that John pay $2,925.00 per month as separate maintenance and child support until January 1, 1988, whereupon the amount of separate maintenance for herself and child support for the three children shall increase to $3,000.00 per month, until the oldest child reached twenty-one years of age or emancipated when the payment would reduce to $2,500.00 per month and continue until the youngest child is emancipated. The decree is silent as to an amount designated for the wife's support separate from the children's support. The wife argues here that the entire amount is no more than child support. The court notes that the oldest child has reached the age of majority and a second child is nearing majority. Unfortunately, because of this Court's docket, too much lapse of time has passed, and the children's present situation is uncertain. However, that amount which was previously awarded was not an excessive sum for the children's support under Mississippi case law and the children's needs. The amount of the allowance for separate maintenance was set forth in Amis, Divorce and Separation in Mississippi § 193 (1st ed. 1935) as follows: The amount of the allowance, as in awarding permanent alimony, is within the sound discretion of the court, and will not be disturbed on appeal except in case of a clear abuse thereof... . Nor should it include any sum for the support of a child or children of the parties who may live with the wife because the duty of the father to support his children is separate and distinct from the duty of the husband to support his wife. 1 R.C.L. 921 section 70. In all cases due consideration should be given to the right of the husband to live as comfortably as his wife, but not more so, and also to his legal obligation to support his children... . The purpose should be to provide, as nearly as may be possible, the same sort of normal support and maintenance for the wife, all things considered, as she would have received in the home, if the parties had continued normal cohabitation, and the wife had helped in a reasonable way, in view of her health and physical condition, to earn her own support and that of the family. For a decree for separate maintenance cannot confer on the wife any greater rights, than she would have had if cohabitation had continued. It is merely an enforcement, as near as may be, of the same rights she had before the separation. (Emphasis added). In making an award of separate maintenance, the court is to consider: (1) The health of both husband and wife; (2) Their combined earning capacity; (3) The reasonable needs of the wife and children; (4) The necessary living expenses of the husband; (5) The fact that the wife has free use of the home and furnishings; and (6) Other such facts and circumstances bearing on the subject that might be shown by the evidence. Gray v. Gray, 484 So.2d 1032, 1033 (Miss. 1986); Tanner v. Tanner, 481 So.2d 1063, 1065 (Miss. 1985). John testified his annual rate of pay in 1987 would be $88,700.00 and that he has received consecutive raises for 18 years. His assets are approximately $223,000.00 while his total indebtedness is approximately $15,000.00. Nancy netted approximately $19,000.00 in 1986 from oil and gas royalties she received over the years as gifts from her father. She expected to receive the same amount in 1987. Nancy has received periodic gratuities from her father, but as held in McNeil v. McNeil, 127 Miss. 616, 90 So. 327 (1921), We do not think it proper to consider mere gratuities given to the complainant by her father. The duty to support the wife rests upon the husband, and he cannot avoid the performance of this duty by showing that the father will probably see that the wife does not suffer because the father is able to do so and is manifesting a disposition to meet the wants of the daughter. McNeil, 90 So. at 329. The trial court awarded Nancy and her three children approximately 41% of John's salary. This does not appear to be an unreasonable amount in view of the Tanner factors as both parties are in good health; John's earning power is approximately four times as great as Nancy's, and the needs of Nancy and the children are reasonable in light of the style of living to which they have become accustomed. Therefore, the amount of the award of separate maintenance to Nancy and the children was just and equitable for those sums paid to this date. However, our consideration cannot end here for this Court is setting aside any part of the maintenance which goes to the wife, if any. Since the chancellor's finding that the wife's actions caused and justified the separation and since that finding is supported in the record, the Court dissolves any future separate maintenance for the wife under the court order of June 29, 1987. Child support, including medical payments, in an amount sufficient to meet their needs must continue. However, since a delineation between child support and the wife's maintenance was not made in the original judgment, this Court remands this issue to the Chancery Court of Hinds County for a factual finding of the minor children's present needs in line with the mother's and father's financial ability to provide.