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WILLIAM F. BEHSMAN v. EDNA M. BEHSMAN

Minnesota Supreme Court1919-11-07No. No. 21,390
144 Minn. 95

Summary

Holding. The marriage cannot be annulled solely on the ground that one party was epileptic at the time of marriage in the absence of fraud or concealment. The trial court's judgment denying the annulment was affirmed.

William Behsman sought to annul his marriage to Edna Behsman on the sole ground that she was epileptic at the time of their marriage, a fact he claimed was unknown to him. The couple had married in 1907 and lived together for approximately eight years before Edna's condition worsened and she was committed to a mental hospital in 1915. Three children were born during their marriage. The trial court denied the annulment but awarded Behsman custody of the children.

The court examined the applicable statute, which prohibited marriages between persons who are epileptic but did not identify epilepsy as a ground for annulment of an already-existing marriage. The court found that Edna had not concealed her ailment from Behsman and that she apparently did not even know her condition was specifically epilepsy. Because the statute did not provide for annulment based on epilepsy alone, and because there was no fraud or concealment involved, the court determined that an annulment was not warranted.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether epilepsy is a valid ground for annulment of marriage
  • Whether lack of knowledge of a spouse's epilepsy, absent fraud or concealment, supports annulment
  • Statutory interpretation of marriage annulment provisions

Procedural posture

The plaintiff appealed the trial court's denial of his complaint for annulment of marriage.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

Quinn, J.

Plaintiff and defendant have been residents of this state since their birth. They were married in June, 1907. They lived together as husband and wife until shortly prior to September, 1915, when the defendant, by reason of and as a result of epilepsy, was adjudged insane and committed to the hospital where ¡she has since been detained. There are three children the issue of such marriage, of the ages of eight, five and three years, but they do not appear to be afflicted with such malady.

An examination of the record as returned leads us to the conclusion that the trial court was right in denying the relief asked for in the complaint. The findings of the trial court are, in effect, that the parties were married on June 7, 1907; that the issue of such marriage is three children; that the defendant is and has been ever since she was two years of age an epileptic; that said disease continued to grow on the defendant until September 3, 1915, when she became insane and was committed to the hospital for the insane at Kochester; that the defendant is becoming more irrational and violent and is not expected to improve in her condition; that the plaintiff and defendant lived together as husband and wife until shortly before .defendant became insane; that plaintiff did not know that the disease with which defendant was afflicted was epilepsy until about September 3, 1915, and that this action was commenced in November, 1918.

As conclusions of law the court found that plaintiff is not entitled to have said marriage annulled and set aside, but that he is entitled to the custody of said children.

Plaintiff brings this action to annul the marriage, alleging solely, that at the time of such marriage and long prior thereto and ever since, defendant was an epileptic, all of which was unknown to plaintiff. There is no allegation or contention that the defendant, in any manner, attempted to conceal her real ailment from the plaintiff, nor that she knew or had any conception of the nature of the malady with which she was afflicted. The question then is, whether a marriage is voidable upon the sole ground that one of the parties thereto was an epileptic at the time of the marriage, in the absence of any showing of fraud or concealment and where it does not appear that the defendant ever knew that her trouble was epilepsy.

Section 7090, G. S. 1913, provides that: “No marriage shall be contracted while either of the parties has a husband or wife living; nor within six months after either has been divorced from a former spouse; nor between parties who are nearer of kin than second cousins, whether of the half or whole blood, computed by the rules of the civil law; nor between persons either of whom is epileptic, imbecile, feeble-minded or insane.”

Section 7106 of the statute provides that all marriages which are prohibited by law on account of consanguinity, or on account of either party having a former husband or wife then living, if solemnized within this state, shall be absolutely void, and section 7107 provides that when either party to a marriage is incapable of assenting thereto for wtart of age or understanding, or when the consent of either has been obtained by force or fraud, and there is no subsequent voluntary cohabitation of the parties, the marriage may be annulled and shall be void from the time its nullity is adjudged.

It will be observed that the legislature has not prescribed epilepsy as a ground for annulment of marriage, nor have the courts of this state recognized that disease as cause for nullifying the marriage contract. Apparently the defendant was in such state of health at and subsequent to the time of her marriage, that plaintiff lived with her for eight years, raised a family of three children before discovering the nature of the malady under which she was laboring. She had concealed nothing from the plaintiff as to her ailments. We are of the opinion that the judgment should stand.

Affirmed.