DocketNumber: 45423
Citation Numbers: 650 S.W.2d 638, 1983 Mo. App. LEXIS 3150
Judges: Karohl, Crandall, Reinhard, Crist
Filed Date: 2/1/1983
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 10/19/2024
Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Three.
Richard Jacobs, Clayton, for appellant.
Michael M. Frank, Clayton, for respondent.
Motion for Rehearing/Transfer to Supreme Court Denied April 15, 1983.
KAROHL, Judge.
Petitioner-husband appeals award of maintenance in a dissolution proceeding. This appeal is dismissed for want of jurisdiction.
*639 Appellant-petitioner testified with respect to the dissolution petition that he did not sign the petition; that it was read to him on the telephone and that he confirmed the facts as read, to be right; that he did not sign it before a notary (or any other person authorized to take oaths). It was not a verified petition. Respondent filed an answer but did not file a verified counterclaim.
"A dissolution proceeding is a purely statutory action. The petition in a proceeding for dissolution of marriage or legal separation shall be verified and shall allege the marriage is irretrievably broken and shall set forth: ...." § 452.310.2 RSMo. 1978.
"Even if neither party questions our jurisdiction, we must consider it sua sponte." Gaa v. Edwards, 626 S.W.2d 685, 686 (Mo. App.1981); Starnes v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, 503 S.W.2d 129, 130-31 (Mo.App.1973).
The requirement for a verified petition in a dissolution proceeding is jurisdictional. Hibdon v. Hibdon, 589 S.W.2d 646, 647 (Mo.App.1979); see also McCarty v. McCarty, 300 S.W.2d 394, 400 (Mo.1957), which recognized that the affidavit then required in divorce petitions was essential to jurisdiction. (§ 452.040 RSMo. 1949, now repealed). A petition signed by one other than the petitioner will not suffice to confer jurisdiction. No one can make this affidavit for him. Higginbotham v. Higginbotham, 146 S.W.2d 856, 857 (Mo.App.1940).
The trial court was therefore without jurisdiction of the persons or subject matter. The judgment is void and there is nothing before this court for review. Appeal dismissed.
CRANDALL, P.J., and REINHARD and CRIST, JJ., concur.
McCarty v. McCarty , 1957 Mo. LEXIS 766 ( 1957 )
Starnes v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Company , 1973 Mo. App. LEXIS 1084 ( 1973 )
American Industrial Resources, Inc. v. T.S.E. Supply Co. , 1986 Mo. App. LEXIS 4046 ( 1986 )
Standard of Beaverdale, Inc. v. Hemphill , 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 241 ( 1988 )
McCammon v. McCammon , 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4396 ( 1984 )
Drury Displays, Inc. v. Board of Adjustment of City of St. ... , 1988 Mo. LEXIS 91 ( 1988 )
In Re Marriage of Gillett , 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 1750 ( 1988 )
McCallister v. McCallister , 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 680 ( 1991 )