Opinion
11-18-1904
BENNETT v. BENNETT.
Sylvester Cooley, for complainant. E. W. Crane, for defendant.
Bill by Ida M. Bennett against William H. Bennett for support. Decree for plaintiff.
Sylvester Cooley, for complainant.
E. W. Crane, for defendant.
EMERY, V. C. For purposes of fixing permanent alimony, defendant's annual income must be estimated as follows: Income admitted by defendant:
From salary, $50 per week | $2,600 |
From rents. Bank street property. . | 200 |
From rents, Seventeenth street property | 125 |
$2,925 |
To this must be added interest at 6 per cent. on amount invested in the dairy company, $12,500. While this company at present seems not to be paying dividends—it has paid large dividends in the past—it is under the management of defendant, and the amount invested in it should be taken into account in fixing permanent alimony, even though it is not at present productive. 2 Nels. Div. & Sep. § 912. To charge the husband with legal interest is equitable. Taking the whole income, therefore, at about $3,600, the permanent alimony should be fixed at about one-third of this amount, or $23 per week. As, however, the computation of defendant's income includes an estimate of the gross yearly rental ($420) of property occupied by complainant, the defendant is entitled to a credit of this amount ($8 per week) as so much paid on account of the weekly alimony fixed ($23), so long as the complainant occupies the house.