Pinney v. Sulzen

Citations

• 91 Kan. 407
• 137 P. 987
• 1914 Kan. LEXIS 44

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Divorce — Cxistody of Minor Child Awarded to Wife — Death of Wife — Father Entitled to Custody of Child. Where a husband and wife having children are divorced and the court in its decree awards the custody of a child to each of them, and the mother dies while the child awarded to her is in infancy, the father then becomes entitled to the custody of that child, and this right continues in him unless it appears that he is an-unfit person to have the control and care of his child.</p> <p>2. Same — Welfare of Child Considered — Unfitness of Father Must he Proven. In determining to whom the custody of a child should be awarded its welfare is to be regarded more than the technical legal right of the parent, but where an application made by a father for the custody of his child after the death of its mother is resisted by a third party on the ground that the father is immoral and unfit to have its custody he will not be deprived of such custody unless the objection is sustained by clear and satisfactory proof.</p> <p>3. Same. Courts will not disturb the family relation nor take a child from its parent merely because a third person seeking its custody may have larger means and is therefore able to give the child greater comforts, wider education and the promise of a larger inheritance.</p> <p>4. Same. In the present case it is held that the testimony does not establish that the father is unfit to be entrusted with the custody and guardianship of his child.</p>