293 N.W. 280 | Neb. | 1940
In 1934 in a divorce action between these parties in the ■district court for Lincoln county the defendant was granted a divorce upon her answer and cross-petition and was also awarded the custody of a minor son then 17 months old. The decree provided that until further order of the court the plaintiff pay to the defendant for the support of the child the sum of $15 a month.
In October, 1938, the defendant filed in said court an application for an increase in the amount allowed for the support of the child, which application was finally heard in July, 1939, and an order was then made and entered in the •case modifying the original decree to the extent that the .amount of such allowance for the support of the child was increased from $15 to the sum of $25 a month. This appeal is by the plaintiff from the order increasing such allow.anee.
The contention of the appellant is, in effect, that there has been no such change in the situation of the parties or the interests of the child as would require or authorize an increase in the amount of money to be paid by him for the support of his son now seven years old, and in the custody •of his mother, the defendant.
It also appears that the husband is, and during all the period'covered by this investigation has been, employed by the Union Pacific Railroad in a responsible capacity, he being rated as a conductor, but during certain stages of the employment has worked also as a brakeman. The testimony shows that at the time of the original trial his earnings were approximately $140 a month, and that at the time of this hearing his earnings are approximately $200 a month. In the meantime he has reduced the indebtedness on his North Platte property from $700 to approximately $400, and is himself living in a room. What he realizes from his residential property which is a seven-room house is not shown. He has no other dependents nor any one in whose support he seems financially concerned except he occasionally assists his mother who resides at Julesburg. He also maintains an automobile.
The law in this case is well settled both by statutory provision and the decisions of this court. By section 42-312, Comp. St. 1929, it is provided:
“If the circumstances of the parents shall change, or it shall be to the best interests of the children, the court may afterwards, from time to time, on its own motion, or on the petition of either parent, revise or alter to any extent, the decree so far as it concerns the care, custody and maintenance of the children or any of them.”
In Wassung v. Wassung, 136 Neb. 440, 286 N. W. 340, in the opinion it is stated: “The reduction in defendant’s wages and the employment of the plaintiff are changes in the circumstances of the parties that justify a prospective modification of this decree under the power granted the
In the case of Connett v. Connett, 81 Neb. 777, 116 N. W. 658, the first paragraph of the syllabus is: “Where, in a decree of divorce, the court includes an order concerning the custody or maintenance of minor children, those infants in a sense become wards of that court, and it has authority at any subsequent period of their minority, upon application of either parent and sufficient notice to the other, to revise and alter the decree so far as it relates to the care, custody, or maintenance of the children.”
It was also further held in the Wassung case above cited that provisions for the maintenance of children in divorce cases are for the benefit of the child or children and not for the benefit of the parent.
In the interim between the granting of the original decree and the-time of the hearing from which this appeal comes, the child had progressed from the age of 17 months to approximately 7 years. He was attending school. No complaint is made of the manner in which the mother has taken care of the child except, as it is now made, that she does not need any more money in order to do so. The boy needs care of a different kind now and it is somewhat more expensive than it was at the age of 17 months. The mother is entirely justified in that, in order to hold her own employment, she employs some one to assist at their home in caring for the child while she is busy at work. The child must have something that answers as a home as well as the mother.
We think it clear from the record in this case that the circumstances of both parents and the child have sufficiently changed since the granting of the original decree to warrant the present application for a modification thereof, and we are convinced that the plaintiff father, who is shown to be in good health and to have a good job and without other dependents, should, contribute a greater share than he has been doing to the support of his son; and we find that the amount of increase allowed in the district court is not excessive, and approve it.
Affirmed.