Court Opinion

ID: 9761037
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:29:52.969703+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:19.787367
License: Public Domain

Darrell Hickman, Justice, dissenting in part; concurring in part. This is not the first time Arkansas has recognized the concept of divisible divorce. In Rice v. Rice, 213 Ark. 981, 214 S.W.2d 235 (1948), we held that a husband who had obtained an Arkansas divorce upon constructive service and without provision for alimony was not allowed to assert the divorce as a bar to the wife’s action for arrearages arising from a prior New York decree for separate maintenance of which the husband had had notice. The doctrine of divisible divorce was developed in Estin v. Estin, 334 U.S. 541 (1948), a case which had very close facts to the Rice case and which we used as precedent there. I have no quarrel with the doctrine. In both of the above cases, however, there were support orders entered prior to the divorce. Whether the rule should be extended to a case where there is no prior order of support is a question not presented by this case. There has been a divergence of views when that question has been presented. See Morris, Divisible Divorce, 64 Harv. L. Rev. 1287 (1951). Under these facts I do not believe that the concept of divisible divorce should be applied, because to do so would ignore the policy reason underlying the concept. The reason for the development of the rule, that a valid foreign ex parte divorce terminates the marital status but not the right to alimony, is that the state of the spouse entitled to support has a legitimate interest in protecting the abandoned spouse from being left impoverished and becoming a public charge. See Estin v. Estin, supra, at 547. Mrs. Woods is not an abandoned spouse. She was in a state which had jurisdiction over both her and her husband, she filed the divorce action here, but then voluntarily chose to dismiss the action and obtain the divorce in another state. She sought a forum where she knew she could not get an in personam judgment against her husband without his consent. It was her right to obtain a divorce quickly and without having to prove fault. However, she should not be allowed to return and litigate the issue of alimony under the concept of divisible divorce. She had the chance and by her own action abandoned that opportunity. Similar reasoning was relied upon in Glennan v. Glennan, 197 Misc. 899, 97 N.Y.S.2d 666 (Sup. Ct. 1950) where the court refused to apply the doctrine of divisible divorce, holding that a wife who changes her domicile to obtain a valid ex parte divorce in another state cannot enforce a prior New York support order because by her conduct she had forfeited her right to support. The court stated, “The plaintiff cannot avoid the effect of her divorce in Ohio which she brought about.” See also McFarlane v. McFarlane, 43 Ore. 477, 73 P. 203 (1903). Nor do I agree that the fact that Arkansas allows an “independent action for alimony” not incident to divorce dictates this result. Our cases have held that an action for alimony can be maintained where no divorce is sought or where one was sought but not granted. See Wood v. Wood, 54 Ark. 172 (1891); Savage v. Savage, 143 Ark. 388, 220 S.W. 459 (1920). The independent cause of action for alimony is now called an action for “separate maintenance.” See Rosenbaumv. Rosenbaum, 206 Ark. 865,177 S.W.2d 926 (1944). Those holdings and our recognition of the cause of action for separate maintenance have no bearing on this case where the wife’s own conduct prevented litigation of the alimony issue. The majority cite those holdings to interpret Ark. Stat. Ann. § 34-1201 as allowing a proceeding for alimony before or after divorce. They say they are liberally construing the statute “to assist the parties in obtaining justice.” I’m confused as to which reason the majority actually relies on but none of those reasons (Arkansas having a cause of action for separate maintenance, liberal construction of the statute, or the concept of divisible divorce) allow the result reached here under these facts. This is an opinion which will be relied upon to uphold forum shopping by divorce litigants and will cause some divorce proceedings to be endless. See Knighton v. Knighton, 259 Ark. 399, 533 S.W.2d 215 (1976). I concur with that part of the opinion which allows the appellant to claim property rights.