Betz v. Riviere

29 So. 2d 465, 211 La. 43, 1947 La. LEXIS 737
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedFebruary 10, 1947
DocketNo. 38210.
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 29 So. 2d 465 (Betz v. Riviere) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Betz v. Riviere, 29 So. 2d 465, 211 La. 43, 1947 La. LEXIS 737 (La. 1947).

Opinion

FOURNET, Justice.

George B. Riviere, after he was sued for a separation of property by his wife, Mrs. Coralie Betz Riviere, instituted proceedings against her for separation from bed and board on the ground of abandonment and he is appealing from the judgment of the district court in so far as it decrees certain property acquired by his wife during the existence of the community to be her separate property.

The two cases were consolidated for trial on the joint motion of both parties and the trial judge, in a well considered written opinion, gives us an accurate statement of the facts of the case and the issues involved and disposes of them as follows:

“The evidence as to the abandonment is sufficient and entitles George B. Riviere to a judgment of separation from bed and board from his wife, Coralie Betz Riviere.

“The principal contention between the parties and upon which the evidence was taken, is the status of the property. Mrs. Coralie Betz Riviere contends that most of the property is her own property purchased with her own separate funds or inherited by her from her parents, John N. Betz and wife; and Geoge B. Riviere, her husband, claims that all the property is community property.

“The Rivieres were married on the 19th day of February, 1913, at which time George B. Riviere was delivering mail for the U. S. Government, with horse and buggy, and his salary was $97 per month. A couple of years after they were married, George B. Riviere was elected constable of the Parish of Jefferson at a salary of $100 per month, and his salary was later reduced to $75 per month, and then for a number of years it was reduced to $50 per month. Mrs. Riviere began working shortly after marriage and worked continuously up until 1942. Her salary during most of the time averaged $120 per month.

“In 1920 Mrs. Riviere engaged in the millinery business with Miss Gabriel. This business continued for some time, but whatever profits were made by Mrs. Riviere went towards the maintenance of herself and her husband. Mr. Riviere, during the entire twenty-one years that he was constable, gave to his wife exactly $200, one hundred dollars on July 8, 1925, and one hundred dollars on August 13, 1924. He gave her an entire year’s salary amounting to $600 in 1942, but this money was expended by her with an additional $200 * * * to take Mr. Riviere to the Mayo Clinic for treatment. She secured $800 in travelers checks and paid for the trip and clinic charges.

“Later, Mr. and Mrs. Riviere with a third person, formed a corporation to engage in a millinery business named ‘Riviere, Inc.’ This business was fairly successful. *50 until a disastrous fire to their stock, which was under-insured, resulted in a loss of $6,500. In order to pay the loss of the company, Mrs. Riviere mortgaged a piece of property which she had received from her father, John Betz, and which property will be later dealt with by the Court.

“Mrs. Riviere opened a bank account in December, 1933 with a deposit of $125, and on January 1, 1936, had a balance of $125. George B. Riviere opened a bank account January 28, 1935, in his own name, with a deposit of $200, so that in 1936, out of the various transactions heretofore referred to, including salary of both Mr. Riviere and Mrs. Riviere, they together had $325 in cash.

“In July, 1913, Mr. and Mrs. Riviere purchased a lot on the corner of Grenadine Street and Lake Avenue, in the Metairie section, and the building thereon was used as their home. For the original payment of this property Mrs. Riviere secured from her father, John Betz, $1000, and George Riviere secured from his father $1,000. A mortgage was given for the remainder of the purchase price which was eventually paid off out of the earnings of the husband and wife. Later all of this property was sold except 40 feet of the land in the rear. Ten feet adjoining this 40 foot tract was purchased for $50 from the father of George Riviere, and with the money, in excess of the mortgages, received from the property located at the corner of Lake Avenue and Grenadine Street and the property Lots 27 and 28 Freidrichs Avenue, a home was erected on this 50 foot tract. This home bears the number 212 Grenadine Street, and both plaintiff and defendant admit that this lot and the building thereon belonged to the community of acquets and gains existing between them.

“From the time that Mrs. Riviere opened her bank account and the time George B. Riviere opened his bank account, the plaintiff and defendant operated as though legally separated in property. Mr. Riviere deposited his salary checks to his own personal account, and also deposited to his personal account $7,000 which he received from the sale of property given to him by his father. Mrs. Riviere defrayed all of the expenses of the home out of her salary check to which she sometimes had to add money received' by her from rents and revenue of her property.

“Mrs. Riviere retained the full administration of her separate property, paid all insurance and taxes, and attended to the renting and repairing of them.

“John N. Betz, father of Mrs. Riviere, gave to her in the form of an act of sale for the sum of $250, a piece of property forming the corner of Rose Avenue and Metairie Road in the Metairie Road section of Jefferson Parish. John N. Betz, owner of a large tract of land in that vicinity, had nine children, and at the same time that he passed this conveyance to his daughter, Coralie Betz Riviere, he also, before the same notary public and on the same *52 day, transferred a like piece of property to each of his other children. Each act recites that the purchase price was $250, and in each act the father reserved the usufruct for life.

“Two years after Mrs. Riviere received her piece of property, which was in the form of an Act of Sale, she was offered $10,500 for it. Recently she was offered $15,000 for the front part of this identical property.

“Mrs. Riviere testified she paid no money to her father for this property, and Mr. Riviere testified he paid no money for it. The court is satisfied that this property was donated to Mrs. Coralie Betz Riviere by her father, John N. Betz, although put in the form of an Act of Sale, and that this property with the buildings thereon is the separate property of Mrs. Coralie Betz Riviere.

“After her father’s death, Mrs. Riviere with part of the funds received from her father’s estate, built a fruit stand on the front portion of this property and rented it for $25 a month for a while, and later for as much as $100 per month after an addition was made.

“With the aid of a homestead mortgage, she erected a building on the rear of said property, which is designated as 120 Rose Avenue. There remains unpaid on this mortgage approximately the sum of $900, the balance having been paid by Mrs.Riviere in monthly payments out of the rents received from this building. This amount, Mrs. Riviere says, she is ready and willing to pay now.

“Counsel for George Riviere, in. his brief, for the first time, raises the proposition that since the act from John N. Betz to Mrs. Coralie Betz Riv'iere of the-property, Lot 2 of Square 1, corner Rose Avenue and Metairie Road contains the reservation of the usufruct for life of the-donor, John N. Betz, that his donation is. null and void.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Washington v. Guillotte
268 So. 3d 1048 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2018)
Succession of Brewster
663 So. 2d 551 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1995)
Landwehr v. Landwehr
547 So. 2d 752 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1989)
Cooper v. Heirs of Cooper
421 So. 2d 314 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1982)
Curtis v. Curtis
403 So. 2d 56 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1981)
Corpus Christi Parish Credit Union v. Martin
358 So. 2d 295 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
Metairie Bank & Trust Co. v. WENDRYHOSKI, ETC.
338 So. 2d 978 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1977)
Guilott v. Guilott
326 So. 2d 551 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1976)
Moore v. Kinney
315 So. 2d 340 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1975)
Mertens v. Mertens
308 So. 2d 508 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1975)
Primeaux v. Libersat
307 So. 2d 740 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1975)
Stevens v. Claiborne Company
305 So. 2d 570 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1974)
Succession of Miangolarra
297 So. 2d 784 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1974)
Wright v. Mark C. Smith & Sons Partnership
264 So. 2d 304 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1972)
McElwee v. McElwee
255 So. 2d 883 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1972)
Comeaux v. Noel
251 So. 2d 94 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1971)
Minden Chamber of Commerce, Inc. v. Goodman
243 So. 2d 843 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1971)
Paxton v. Bramlette
228 So. 2d 161 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1970)
Department of Highways v. Clemmons
209 So. 2d 18 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1968)
Aldrich v. United States
256 F. Supp. 508 (E.D. Louisiana, 1966)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 So. 2d 465, 211 La. 43, 1947 La. LEXIS 737, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/betz-v-riviere-la-1947.