DeGroot v. DeGroot

369 S.W.3d 918, 2012 WL 2127574, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 4666
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 13, 2012
DocketNo. 05-10-01261-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 369 S.W.3d 918 (DeGroot v. DeGroot) 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
DeGroot v. DeGroot, 369 S.W.3d 918, 2012 WL 2127574, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 4666 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice FILLMORE.

In the parties’ divorce decree, Katherine Diane DeGroot (Katherine) was awarded fifty percent of Richard Douglas DeGroot’s (Douglas’s) 401(k) plan. Douglas withdrew all funds from the 401 (k) plan and, in a post-divorce enforcement order, the trial court ordered Douglas to pay Katherine $145,310.46 as her share of the 401 (k) plan. Douglas appeals the order asserting it (1) substantively changed the property division in the divorce decree, (2) divested him of his separate property, and (3) awarded Katherine more than she requested in her pleadings. In two cross-issues, Katherine argues the trial court erred by ordering Douglas to make monthly payments on the judgment, rather than pay a liquidated sum, and by failing to award Katherine prejudgment and post-judgment interest. We conclude the trial court erred by failing to award Katherine post-judgment interest and by failing to specify the post-judgment interest rate applicable to the judgment. Accordingly, we remand this case to the trial court to determine and award post-judgment interest. In all other respects, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Background

Katherine and Douglas were divorced on July 19, 2006. In the agreed divorce decree, Katherine was awarded fifty percent of Douglas’s 401 (k) plan “pursuant to the terms of the Qualified Domestic Relations Order signed by the Court in this case.” The trial court did not sign a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) when it signed the divorce decree.

The parties almost immediately commenced protracted post-divorce litigation, including an arbitration and an appeal to this Court, during which the trial court did not sign a QDRO. In October 2009, the trial court heard a number of motions, including (1) petitions for enforcement filed by both Katherine and Douglas involving a number of disputes between the parties, (2) a motion for clarification filed by Katherine regarding issues relating to the marital home and whether Douglas’s pension plan had been divided in the original divorce decree, and (3) a motion by Douglas to divide undivided assets. On October 30, 2009, the trial court issued a memorandum detailing its decisions on the division of the pension plan and on the issues raised by the parties in the petitions for enforcement. On December 11, 2009, the trial court signed QDROs for both the pension plan and the 401 (k) plan. As relevant to this appeal, the QDRO for the 401(k) plan awarded Katherine:

[A]n amount equal to fifty percent (50%) of [Douglas’s] vested account balance under the Plan as of the most recent valuation date which occurred on or before July 19, 2006 (the “Assignment Date”). From the Assignment Date to [921]*921the date that payment is made, the amount assigned to [Katherine] will include earnings and losses.

Both Katherine and Douglas requested the trial court enter a final order and QDROs. After a hearing on February 4, 2010, the trial court signed a final order dividing the pension plan and ruling on the other issues raised in the parties’ petitions for enforcement.1 On February 8, 2010, based presumably on the trial court’s rulings at the February 4 hearing, the trial court signed new QDROs for both the pension plan and the 401 (k) plan. The QDRO for the 401 (k) plan awarded Katherine “an amount equal to fifty percent (50%) of [Douglas’s] vested account balance under the Plan as of the most recent valuation date which occurred on or before July 19, 2006.” The sentence in the previous QDRO including earnings and losses in the award to Katherine was deleted by the trial court. Neither party appealed from these orders.

When Douglas’s former employer received the QDROs, it informed Katherine there was no money in the 401 (k) plan. Katherine then filed the petition for enforcement that is the subject of this appeal. Katherine asserted Douglas removed funds from the 401 (k) plan on eleven occasions beginning on June 4, 2008 and ending on February 1, 2010.

After a hearing, the trial court found the divorce decree awarded Katherine fifty percent of the 401 (k) plan and the February 8, 2010 QDRO divided the 401 (k) plan “as of its value on July 19, 2006.” The trial court also found the value of the 401(k) plan on July 19, 2006 was $290,620.92 and the value of Katherine’s share was $145,310.46. The trial court found Douglas committed eleven violations of the decree and the order by withdrawing funds from the 401(k) plan and ordered Douglas to pay Katherine an immediate payment of $50,000 followed by ninety-six monthly payments of $1,000 each. The trial court also held Douglas in contempt for each violation, ordered him confined for ninety days in the Collin County jail, and suspended the confinement on the condition that Douglas make the required monthly payments.

Douglas filed a motion for new trial asserting he withdrew only $273,876.32 from the 401(k) plan while the trial court awarded Katherine one-half of $290,620.92. Douglas argued the effect of the trial court’s order was to award Katherine “approximately $8,372.30 more than [Douglas] actually received” from the 401 (k) plan. Douglas asserted the trial court did not have the authority to make this substantial change to the original division of property.

Modification of Divorce Decree

In his first issue, Douglas asserts the enforcement order made an impermissible substantive change to the property division in the divorce decree because it effectively increased Katherine’s share of the estate by (1) changing the award from fifty percent of the 401 (k) plan in kind to a cash award, (2) apportioning all tax liability to Douglas, and (3) requiring Douglas to pay all penalties on the withdrawals. Katherine responds that the trial court enforced, rather than clarified, the decree.

Standard of Review and Applicable Law

We review the trial court’s ruling on a post-divorce motion for enforcement or clarification under an abuse of discretion standard. Hollingsworth v. Hollingsworth, 274 S.W.3d 811, 815 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2008, no pet.); Campbell v. Campbell, No. 01-10-00562-CV, 2011 WL 2436513, at [922]*922*2 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] June 16, 2011, no pet.) (mem. op.). A trial court abuses its discretion if it acts without reference to any guiding rules and principles or acts arbitrarily or unreasonably. Downer v. Aquamarine Operators, Inc., 701 S.W.2d 238, 241-42 (Tex.1985). When, as in this case, a trial court makes no separate findings of fact or conclusions of law, we draw every reasonable inference supported by the record in favor of the trial court’s judgment. Worford v. Stamper, 801 S.W.2d 108, 109 (Tex.1990) (per curiam); Hollingsworth, 274 S.W.3d at 815. We must affirm the trial court’s judgment if it can be upheld on any legal theory that finds support in the evidence. Worford, 801 S.W.2d at 108; Hollingsworth, 274 S.W.3d at 815.

When a trial court renders a divorce decree, it generally retains the power to enforce the property division contained in the decree. Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 9.002 (West 2006).

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

Related

Vijayalakshmi Nadar v. Thinakar Nadar
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Kami Martin Gaffin v. William Kelly Puls
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Sharon H. Windham v. William M. Windham Jr.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2022
J.K. v. A.K.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Martha A. Delgado v. Jose Luis Delgado
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Fortitude Energy, LLC v. Sooner Pipe LLC
564 S.W.3d 167 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
369 S.W.3d 918, 2012 WL 2127574, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 4666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/degroot-v-degroot-texapp-2012.