Danziger v. Danziger

Collins, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an appeal and a cross-appeal from a decree for the payment of permanent alimony and counsel fees. Wilhelm F. Danziger, hereinafter referred to as the appellant, and Teresa Danziger, cross-appellant and appellee, hereinafter referred to as the appellee, were married in Germany on August 27, 1925. She came to the United States in 1939.

Her husband was unable to ⁴⁷² obtain a visa at that time and came here in June, 1945. In the pre-Hitler era their home was in Berlin, Germany, where the wife was a prima donna at the Berlin State Opera and the husband was a judge. The husband, after being arrested by the Nazis, was released through relatives of his wife after a period of about two weeks. They then went to Holland to her relatives.

At the beginning of the war in 1940 the husband moved from Holland to England and was interned as an enemy alien in Canada. Through his wife’s efforts he was released and came to the United States in 1945. After arriving in this country in 1939 Mrs. Danziger pursued a successful career as a singer. During most of that period her home was a furnished room in an apartment in New York.

She took her husband to that home when he arrived in this country in 1945. She is now 58 years of age and her husband is sixty-five. Her services as a singer are less in demand. She was critically injured in an automobile accident in 1946 which required large medical expenses.

In 1948 she received a substantial settlement for her accidental injuries. He last operatic employment was as an understudy in 1954. She is still teaching at a “Settlement School” in New York. Her employment there does not compensate for her expenses.

The husband, a former judge, is also a trained accountant. His wife procured a position for him in Boston which lasted four years, until 1952. When he was not able to live in New York, they visited frequently, living together in her room. When he was out of employment he also lived there.

After the termination of his Boston position in 1952 he stayed with his wife in New York for the last time. He later obtained a position at $55.00 per week in Baltimore, where he is now living. She said he declined to permit her to come to Baltimore and live with him. He said he would visit her in New York.

She suspected that her husband had established a relationship with another woman. He admitted that he lived with this woman as man and wife on several trips from Baltimore in 1954. ⁴⁷³ On December 28, 1954, at which time it was admitted that the husband was paying his wife $17.90 per week, the appellee filed an amended bill of complaint against the appellant. She alleged that he had deserted her for at least eighteen months prior thereto and also that he had been guilty of adultery on numerous occasions with a woman whose identity was known and would be disclosed. She further alleged that he received a salary of $55.00 per week and also a pension as a former judge in Germany of $176.45 monthly; that she was unemployed and without any income except that received from investments made possible by the settlement for injuries received in the automobile accident; and that, at a former hearing in the cause, she had been awarded alimony pendente lite in the amount of $25.00 per week.

She asked for the award of permanent alimony and counsel fees. After a hearing in open court, the chancellor found from the testimony, in awarding alimony and counsel fees, that the wife was entitled to a divorce had she asked for it; that she had proved her case entitling her to support; that the husband was gainfully employed with “a falling enterprise”; and that she had some income and some capital. He passed a decree on April 18, 1955, awarding the wife permanent alimony of $20.00 per week, subject to the further order of the court, and awarded counsel fees of $150.00. From that decree the husband appeals, claiming that the wife’s income is sufficient for her needs and that her bill of complaint should be dismissed.

The wife cross-appeals, asking that the alimony be increased to $30.00 per week and also that the counsel fees be increased. The wife admits that she has capital assets of approximately $45,161.00 from the settlement for her accident. She claims the husband’s capital assets to be $6,624.00, plus his pension at $2,712.00 per year, which she capitalizes at $75,000.00. She admits her annual income from investments to be $2,386.00.