EX PARTS DIVORCE AS A BAR TO A SUBSEQUENT ACTION FOR ALIMONY

Authors

Abstract

A decree of divorce purports only to affect the marital status of the parties and as such is an action en rem, while an order to pay alimony is a personal judgment. To be effective it must be rendered by a court having personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Since the decision of Pennoyer v. Neff, if the defendant, though an assent non-resident, has property within the jurisdiction the local law may authorize proceedings for seizing it for a personal claim against the owner, the action in effect being against the owner's interest in the property attached. This applies equally well to judgments for alimony where the husband has property within the jurisdiction.

Recommended Citation

EX PARTS DIVORCE AS A BAR TO A SUBSEQUENT ACTION FOR ALIMONY, 25 Mich. L. Rev. 527 (1927).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol25/iss5/6