Cathie Reisler v. Keith Reisler

439 S.W.3d 615, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 11634, 2014 WL 3827854
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 5, 2014
Docket05-12-01586-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 439 S.W.3d 615 (Cathie Reisler v. Keith Reisler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cathie Reisler v. Keith Reisler, 439 S.W.3d 615, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 11634, 2014 WL 3827854 (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice LANG.

Cathie Reisler appeals the trial court’s final decree of divorce, dissolving her marriage to Keith Reisler and dividing their marital property. Cathie Reisler raises four issues on appeal arguing the trial *618 court erred when it: (1) awarded Keith Reisler a disproportionate share of the community estate because it made numerous calculation errors in the property division; (2) failed to award her a disproportionate share of the community estate; (3) made her jointly and severally responsible for the fees for Paul French’s services and for French’s attorney’s fees; and (4) valued the community’s interest in the shares in medical investments for Plano Ambulatory Surgery Associates and Texas Health Center for Diagnostics and Surgery based on Keith Reisler’s income approach valuations. During oral argument, in this appeal, the parties advised the Court that they had settled their dispute relating to issue three. Accordingly, we need not address that issue.

We conclude the trial court erred when it divided the parties’ community estate. Also, Cathie Reisler did not preserve for appellate review her complaint that the trial court erred when it valued the community’s interest in the shares in medical investments for Plano Ambulatory Surgery Associates and Texas Health Center for Diagnostics and Surgery based on Keith Reisler’s income approach valuations. The portion of the trial court’s final decree of divorce dissolving the marriage is affirmed and the portion dividing the parties’ community estate is reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In February 2010, Keith Reisler filed for divorce from Cathie Reisler. In his first amended petition, Keith Reisler alleged insupportability and cruel treatment as grounds for the divorce, requested a disproportionate division of the parties’ estate, and asserted a claim for tortious interference of current and prospective business relations. In her second amended counter-petition, Cathie Reisler alleged insupportability, adultery, and cruel treatment as grounds for the divorce, requested a disproportionate division of the marital estate, and asserted claims against Keith Reisler for constructive fraud, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional abuse and mental distress, and defamation of character, libel, and slander.

In January 2011, the parties entered into a pre-divorce settlement agreement, dividing $1,400,000 equally between them assigning it to their separate property. However, there is no pre-final decree order confirming the pre-divorce settlement as either party’s separate property.

After a bench trial, the trial court took the division of the marital estate under advisement. Then, the trial court signed a memorandum ruling granting the parties divorce on the ground of insupportability, stating the values of the community assets, dividing the community estate, and awarding a judgment to Paul French for which Keith and Cathie Reisler were jointly and severally liable.

Cathie Reisler filed a motion for reconsideration of the trial court’s memorandum ruling, which the trial court denied. Then, the trial court signed the final decree of divorce. The trial court made written findings of fact and conclusions of law. Cathie Reisler filed a motion for new trial, which was overruled by operation of law.

II. JUST AND RIGHT DIVISION OF THE COMMUNITY PROPERTY

In issue one, Cathie Reisler argues the trial court erred when it awarded Keith Reisler a disproportionate share of the community estate because it made numerous calculation errors in the property division. She contends the following:

Although the trial court attempted to make a 50/50 division of the community *619 estate, the trial court abused its discretion by making several calculation errors in its findings of fact that, when corrected, show the trial court actually divided the community estate disproportionately — 88.24% to [Cathie Reisler] and 67.76% to [Keith Resiler], The evidence did not support a disproportionate division in [Keith Reisler’s] favor.

Keith Reisler responds that there is nothing in the trial court’s findings of fact or conclusions of law that states what percentage of the community estate each party was intended to receive or what calculation the trial court made when dividing the community estate. He contends that any assertion the trial court used the wrong values is pure conjecture, requiring the appellate court to make assumptions it cannot make.

A. Standard of Review

An appellate court reviews a trial court’s division of property under an abuse of discretion standard. Moroch v. Collins, 174 S.W.3d 849, 857 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2005, pet. denied). The trial court is afforded broad discretion in dividing the community estate and an appellate court must indulge every reasonable presumption in favor of the trial court’s proper exercise of its discretion. Schlueter v. Schlueter, 975 S.W.2d 584, 589 (Tex.1998); Murff v. Murff, 615 S.W.2d 696, 698 (Tex.1981); In re Marriage of C.A.S. and D.P.S., 405 S.W.3d 373, 384 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2013, no pet.). A trial court does not abuse its discretion if there is some evidence of a substantive and probative character to support the decision. In re Marriage of C.A.S., 405 S.W.3d at 383; Moroch, 174 S.W.3d at 857. To determine whether the trial court abused its discretion, an appellate court considers whether the trial court: (1) had sufficient evidence upon which to exercise its discretion; and (2) erred in its exercise of that discretion. In re Marriage of C.A.S., 405 S.W.3d at 383; In re A.B.P., 291 S.W.3d 91, 95 (Tex.App.Dallas 2009, no pet.). The applicable sufficiency review comes into play with regard to the first question. In re Marriage of C.A.S., 405 S.W.3d at 383; Moroch, 174 S.W.3d at 857. An appellate court then proceeds' to determine whether, based on the elicited evidence, the trial court made a reasonable decision. In re Marriage of C.A.S., 405 S.W.3d at 383; Moroch, 174 S.W.3d at 857.

In family law cases, the abuse of discretion standard of review overlaps with the traditional sufficiency standards of review. Moroch, 174 S.W.3d at 857; see also In re A.B.P., 291 S.W.3d at 95 (discussing standard). When deciding if the trial court abused its discretion, the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence are not independent grounds of reversible error, but instead constitute factors relevant to an appellate court’s assessment of whether the trial court abused its discretion. In re Marriage of C.A.S.,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
439 S.W.3d 615, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 11634, 2014 WL 3827854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cathie-reisler-v-keith-reisler-texapp-2014.