341 Ill. App. 561 - Walters v. Walters’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 5 district · 68 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 88 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “* * * [Periodic or ordinary alimony] is for an indefinite period of time and usually for an indefinite total sum. It is based upon the husband’s income and the needs of the wife determined from the standpoint of the manner in which they have been accustomed to live. It is modifiable after decree when the wife’s needs increase or decrease, or when the husband’s ability to pay increases or decreases. This is so because it takes the form of periodic allowances which do not vest until they become due. It usually terminates upon the death of the husband, although by agreement payments may be made a charge upon the husband’s estate after they become due. They are never a charge on a husband’s estate in advance of the due date because they are not, prior to that time, vested. Payments of alimony from husband to wife are not based upon any consideration moving from wife to husband, but are based upon the common law duty of the husband to support his wife. “Alimony” in this sense of the word, is modifiable. On the other hand, the phrase “alimony in gross” or “gross alimony” is always for a definite amount of money; the payment is always for a definite length of time; it is always a charge upon the husband’s estate and has uniformly been held by our courts to be not modifiable.”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re Dorf · Melichar v. Ost

2. ““It is not the label placed by decree upon payments which constitutes them either alimony or lump sum property settlements; it is the elements inherent in the case as a whole, the record of which the decree is a part, which determine to what category such payments belong.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Nathan v. Commissioner · 88 Ill. App. 3d 543 - Warren v. Warren

3. ““Our Statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1971, ch. 40, par. 19) provides that when a divorce is decreed, the court may make such order touching the alimony and maintenance of wife or husband as from the circumstances of the parties and the nature of the case shall be fit, reasonable and just.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Tilmon v. Tilmon (In Re Tilmon) · 70 Ill. App. 3d 562 - Sahagian v. Sahagian