Hartje v. Hartje

Citations

• 39 Pa. Super. 490
• 1909 Pa. Super. LEXIS 517

Syllabus

<p>Divorce — Alimony—Counsel fee and expenses of wife.</p> <p>1. Where a husband files a libel for divorce against his wife and alleges adultery as the ground for the suit, and the wife spends large sums of money advanced to her by her father in employing counsel and detectives and on general expenses in.the suit, and establishes her innocence and secures the conviction for perjury of witnesses suborned by her husband, the husband will be required to pay all such expenditures and alimony, and the appellate court will not be astute in determining whether all the items claimed were absolutely necessary, when the lower court with full knowledge of all the facts and the exercise of its discretion, has allowed them.</p> <p>. 2. It has been the uniform practice to allow a wife, destitute of a separate estate; who is either suing or defending a suit in divorce, such a reasonable sum as will enable her to carry it on. She cannot sue in forma pauperis, for she is not a pauper if she is the wife of a man who has property. To deny her the means to pay for process and professional aid is to deny her justice. The amount is a question for the discretion of the court.</p>