170 Ga. 766 | Ga. | 1930
(After stating the foregoing facts.)
The first complaint is that the court had no right to postpone or defer his judgment until after further hearing in the case would throw more light upon it and its circumstances. We can not say that the court erred in attempting to get all possible evidence before him in the matter, in order to get at the real facts of the case which he was to adjudicate. So far from considering this to be error, we are rather of the opinion that the practice of more carefully investigating all the facts, as far as possible, in preliminary and interlocutory hearings is to be strongly commended. Nor can we agree to the second contention that the judgment was rendered to punish plaintiff for taking said children to her parents' home beyond the jurisdiction of the court. There is nothing in the record sustaining it. There is no declaration of the court that this was his purpose, nor any circumstance at the hearing to indicate such an intent or afford the basis for such a suspicion. This exception can not be sustained.
Plaintiff in error contends the judgment was illegal in changing the custody of two of the children when they were out of the jurisdiction of the court, and that the court did not have jurisdiction over them, and further that the father had abandoned them by failing to take steps to get custody. It must be borne in mind that plaintiff brought the present proceeding. It was not a suit for divorce and alimony nor a proceeding for alimony for the wife, but only a proceeding to force the husband to furnish support for his children, under the denomination of alimony for the children. It appears that the wife carried the children from their home in Polk County to that of her parents in Spalding County. Since the defendant lived in Polk County, it would seem that the proceeding was brought in the proper jurisdiction, regardless of the residence of the plaintiff and the children. By bringing the proceeding in Polk County the plaintiff certainly submitted herself and her children to the jurisdiction of the superior court of Polk County. In this case, custody of the children is merely incidental. The
There was no error in excluding the evidence set forth in the second exception to the judgment. The testimony of the affiants was to the effect that the mother was industrious and energetic and solicitous of the welfare of her children. However, the purpose of the proceding was to tax the husband for the support of the children, and to determine the earning ability of the husband.
The testimony to the exclusion of which exception is taken in the third ground of the bill of exceptions was, in our opinion, properly excluded. It throws no light upon the question of the defendant’s ability to support his children, and on character it was merely circumstantial as to what the defendant intended to do on the occasions referred to.
The grounds of demurrer to the answer of defendant, which were overruled, were without merit, and hence the exception upon this point does not show error.
Judgment affirmed.