Brister v. Brister’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

55 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 57 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “If the recipient becomes able to support herself after the passage of a period of time, this constitutes a change in circumstances that has been held to warrant termination of the husband’s alimony obligation____ The focal point in each case is the recipient’s need for support. We consider Mrs. Brister’s salary and the income from her property under present case law. Actual need being the criterion, what matters if the money comes from an inheritance, a crap game or the largess of a live-in lover ? We hold that this additional resource of Mrs. Brister’s may be weighed in determining the amount of alimony that should be paid. We do not consider this ruling to be at odds with [case law] ... that a so-called “de facto” marriage is not, in and of itself, grounds for cancellation of an alimony award.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Van Dyke v. Steinle