Aymond v. Aymond

758 So. 2d 886, 2000 WL 233277
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 1, 2000
Docket99-1372
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 758 So. 2d 886 (Aymond v. Aymond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aymond v. Aymond, 758 So. 2d 886, 2000 WL 233277 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

758 So.2d 886 (2000)

Carol J. AYMOND, Jr.
v.
Donna D. AYMOND.

No. 99-1372.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 1, 2000.

*887 Carol J. Aymond, Jr., Bunkie, LA, D. Rex Anglin, Shreveport, LA, Counsel for Defendant, Donna D. Aymond.

Carl Duhon, Lafayette, LA, Counsel for Defendant, Whitney National Bank.

BEFORE: THIBODEAUX, SAUNDERS, AMY, Judges.

THIBODEAUX, Judge.

Carol J. Aymond, Jr. and Donna D. Aymond appeal a judgment of the trial court which partitioned the community of acquets and gains which existed between them. Both parties assert several assignments of error. We amend and affirm the trial court's judgment and remand for a *888 supplemental partition, if necessary, of community income received by Mr. Aymond in 1998.

I.

ISSUES

Carol Aymond asks that we consider:

1. whether the trial court erred in failing to reimburse him for his separate labor in the management of community assets from the date of termination of the community property regime;
2. whether he was entitled to receive credit for paying alimony pendente lite to Mrs. Aymond;
3. whether the trial court erred in failing to reimburse him for penalties in the amount of $18,892.70 which were incurred by the community for Mrs. Aymond's early withdrawal of certificates of deposit; and,
4. whether the trial court erred in failing to require Mrs. Aymond to pay expert fees and costs incurred during partitioning proceedings.
Donna Aymond entreats us to consider:
1. whether the trial court erred in its judgment on the trial of traversals by finding that a corporation, Cardean, Inc., was the separate property of Mr. Aymond;
2. whether the trial court erred in its valuation of Mr. Aymond's law office bank account and practice;
3. whether the trial court erred by casting both parties equally for one-half of the court costs incurred after the trial on the merits; and,
4. whether the trial court erred in its rulings on pre-trial discovery in failing to compel the production of Mr. Aymond's income information.

II.

FACTS

Carol J. Aymond, Jr. and Donna Aymond were married in 1967 and lived together until about April 17, 1996, when Donna Aymond left their matrimonial domicile in Avoyelles Parish. Two children, Jaimie and Chantel, who have attained the age of majority, were born to this marriage. Throughout the marriage, Mrs. Aymond was a housewife and Mr. Aymond was and continues to be an attorney and a farmer.

The Aymonds accumulated a vast amount of community property which consisted of real estate, certificates of deposit, cattle, coins and other movable items. On June 26, 1996, Mrs. Aymond secured a judgment for alimony pendente lite in the amount of $4,500.00 per month, cash payment, continuation and payment of a hospitalization policy, and the payment of car insurance on her automobile, as well as the use of a 1996 Lincoln. On September 15, 1996, Mrs. Aymond filed a Petition for Partition of Community Property. Each party filed Detailed Descriptive Lists of Property and each party traversed the list of the other. Experts were appointed by the court to appraise certain described items of community property. Mr. Aymond claimed that upon Mrs. Aymond's departure from the matrimonial domicile, she prematurely cashed in community certificates of deposit (CD's) in the name of both parties in an amount of over a half million dollars. Mr. Aymond filed for a Separation of Property on November 22, 1996, claiming mismanagement and fraud by Mrs. Aymond. The court granted the Separation of Property Judgment which terminated the community of acquets and gains effective April 19, 1996. On January 27, 1999, a trial on the merits of the Partition was held and judgment was rendered.

Carol J. Aymond, Jr. and Donna D. Aymond both appeal the trial court's judgment.

III.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

A court of appeal may not set aside a trial court's factual findings unless *889 clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989). The following two-tier test exists for appellate review of facts: 1) whether there is a reasonable factual basis in the record for the finding of the trial court, and 2) whether the record establishes that the finding is not manifestly erroneous. Mart v. Hill, 505 So.2d 1120, 1127 (La.1987). If a reasonable factual basis exists, an appellate court may set aside a trial court's factual finding only if after reviewing the record in its entirety, it determines the trial court's finding was clearly wrong. Stobart v. State, Through Dep't of Transp., 617 So.2d 880, 882 (La.1993).

Reimbursement for Management of Community Assets

Mr. Aymond argues the trial court erred in failing to award him reimbursement for his separate labor in the management of community assets from the termination of the community property regime on April 19, 1996, to the date of trial. We find no merit in this argument.

The Louisiana Civil Code provides the appropriate framework for deciding this issue, unlike the 1905 jurisprudence relied upon by Mr. Aymond. La.Civ.Code art. 2369.1 indubitably states, in part:

After termination of the community property regime, the provisions governing co-ownership apply to former community property, unless otherwise provided by law or juridical act.

This article provides a direct path to La. Civ.Code art. 806, a co-ownership provision, which states, in pertinent part:

A co-owner who on account of the thing held in indivision has incurred necessary expenses, expenses for ordinary maintenance and repairs, or necessary management expenses paid to a third person, is entitled to reimbursement from the other co-owners in proportion to their shares.

(Emphasis added).

Comment (c) explains and specifically states in part:

A co-owner is not allowed to receive anything for his own management of the thing that is held in indivision unless he is entitled to such a recovery under a management plan adopted by agreement of all co-owners....

Sharp v. Zeller, 114 La. 549, 38 So. 449 (1905), on which Mr. Aymond relies, held that a joint owner in possession is entitled to recover money expended for taxes, insurance, and necessary repairs, inuring to the benefit of his co-owners. In Sharp, the defendant, Henry Zeller, was allowed recovery because he had used his separate funds in purchasing the property at issue. In this case, the property which was managed and maintained was community property. More importantly, there was no issue of managerial reimbursement in Sharp, to which Mr. Aymond demands he is entitled.

Mr. Aymond also urges this court to apply the holding of Lovell v. Lovell, 490 So.2d 330 (La.App. 1 Cir.1986). We decline to do so. In Lovell, the plaintiff, Barbara Lovell, erroneously believed her husband, Archie Lovell, was not entitled to reimbursement for community debts which he paid with separate funds. In this case, separate funds are not at issue.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
758 So. 2d 886, 2000 WL 233277, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aymond-v-aymond-lactapp-2000.