Bernal v. Nieto

1997 NMCA 067, 943 P.2d 1338, 123 N.M. 621
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 10, 1997
DocketNo. 17015
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1997 NMCA 067 (Bernal v. Nieto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bernal v. Nieto, 1997 NMCA 067, 943 P.2d 1338, 123 N.M. 621 (N.M. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

FLORES, Judge.

1. Plaintiffs-Appellants Gracie Bernal and her minor son, Joshua Nieto (Appellants), appeal from the trial court’s order dismissing their amended petition for declaratory judgment and denying their motion for summary judgment. The issue raised on appeal is whether the trial court erred in ruling that a divorced spouse could divest a portion of his minor child’s interest in the proceeds of an insurance policy by adding other beneficiaries to the policy. Deciding that the court erred in this respect, we reverse.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

2. Gracie Bernal (Gracie) is the first wife of David Nieto, deceased (David). Joshua Nieto (Joshua) is the son born of the marriage of Gracie and David. Defendant-Appellee Della Nieto (Della) is the second wife of David. Defendant-Appellee, Melissa Nieto (Melissa), is the daughter born of the marriage of Della and David. Della was married to David at the time of his death.

3. Gracie and David were married on May 5, 1982, and divorced on June 30, 1988. At the time of the divorce, Joshua was four years old. Gracie and David appeared pro se in the divorce proceeding, and entered into a Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA), which the record and briefs reflect was drafted by David. The MSA, under the heading of “8. OTHER OBLIGATIONS” provided that: “Husband agrees to keep his life insured with the wife, or at the husband’s option, the minor child, as beneficiaries of said life insurance, until such time [as] the child becomes eighteen.” The MSA further provided that a modification of any of the provisions “shall be effective only if made in writing and executed with the same formality as [the MSA].”

4. At the time of the execution of the MSA and the entry of the divorce decree, there existed one life insurance policy, Policy W-115, on the life of David. This life insurance policy, in the amount of $43,000, was held with Provident Life Insurance Company (Provident).

5. On September 18, 1989, David, subsequent to his marriage to Della, executed a change of beneficiary to the life insurance policy, naming Joshua and Della as beneficiaries. Thereafter, on February 9,1994, David executed another change of beneficiaries naming Joshua, Della, and Melissa as beneficiaries of the life insurance policy. David passed away thereafter. Gracie and Joshua were not. informed of the changes of beneficiaries, and first became aware of the changes after the claim for benefits was made by Della.

6. Appellants filed a petition for Declaratory Judgment to require Provident to pay all of the life insurance proceeds due and payable on Policy W-115 to them. By agreement of the parties, the proceeds of this life insurance policy were paid into the Court Registry. Subsequent to the deposit of the life insurance policy proceeds with the court, Provident was dismissed from the case, and it is not a party to this appeal. However, Della and Melissa responded to the petition, claiming that they were each entitled to one-third of the net proceeds on the life insurance policy pursuant to the two different changes of beneficiaries executed by David prior to his death. From an adverse ruling of the trial court below holding that Joshua, Della, and Melissa were each entitled to one-third of the proceeds of the policy, Gracie and Joshua appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Procedural Issue Raised by Appellees

7. Before addressing the issue raised by Appellants in this appeal, we turn our attention to a question raised by Appellees in their answer brief: Whether Appellants have complied with Rule 12-213(A)(4) NMRA 1997. More specifically, Appellees argue that we should not decide the issue raised by Appellants on the merits, but instead should affirm the trial court because Appellants have failed to specifically attack any of the “findings” made by the trial court. We disagree with Appellees’ position.

8. We agree with Appellees that generally Appellants are bound by findings of fact not specifically attacked in the brief. Maloof v. San Juan County Valuation Protests Bd., 114 N.M. 755, 759, 845 P.2d 849, 853 (Ct.App.1992). Here, however, there were no findings of fact as such to attack. The parties below agreed to a consolidated preftrial order essentially stipulating to the facts. Further, the trial court’s final order itself states “the parties having agreed that no testimony was necessary because the matters to be decided were issues of law for the Court.” Although the trial court’s final order does state that the court “FINDS as follows:”, what comes after are three legal conclusions disposing of the case: (1) Appellants denied relief and case dismissed with prejudice; (2) proceeds of the life insurance policy distributed in three equal shares in accordance with the named beneficiaries, and (3)Appellants’ motion for summary judgment denied. The trial court’s final order then goes on to recite each of these three conclusions almost verbatim in its decretal clause. It is this order that Appellants challenge on appeal.

9. The law in this jurisdiction has long been that no findings of fact are required on entry of summary judgment. Wilson v. Albuquerque Bd. of Realtors, 81 N.M. 657, 472 P.2d 371 (1970), overruled on other grounds by Garrett v. Nissen Corp., 84 N.M. 16, 18, 498 P.2d 1359, 1361 (1972). Thus, the requirement of Rule 12-213(A)(4) is not applicable in an appeal from a summary adjudication. Here, we determine that, because the rulings by the trial court were matters of law, there were no factual findings that Appellants were required to specifically attack, nor were Appellants required to raise questions as to the sufficiency of the evidence. Accordingly, we address the issue raised by Appellants, which is a legal issue, on the merits.

B. Legal Issue Raised by Appellants

10. On appeal, Appellants basically argue that the trial court erred in upholding the change in beneficiaries as opposed to the beneficiary provisions of the MSA contained in the divorce decree. We agree.

11. The MSA states clearly that Gracie and/or Joshua are to be the beneficiaries of a life insurance policy. As previously noted, Insurance Policy W-115 was the only life insurance policy on the life of David both at the time of the execution of the MSA and at the time of David’s death. The MSA was a contract between Gracie and David. The general rule in New Mexico is that “[i]n interpreting a contract uncertainties must be construed most strongly against the party drafting the contract,” in this case, David. Spinoso v. Rio Rancho Estates, Inc., 96 N.M. 5, 8, 626 P.2d 1307, 1310 (Ct.App.1981). We therefore determine the words “keep his life insured” should be interpreted to mean keeping David’s life insured with the only life insurance he had in existence at that time, Policy W-115. That is the only policy ever purchased by David during his lifetime.

12.

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Bluebook (online)
1997 NMCA 067, 943 P.2d 1338, 123 N.M. 621, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bernal-v-nieto-nmctapp-1997.