Ecroyd v. Ecroyd

682 So. 2d 788, 1996 WL 577427
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 9, 1996
DocketNo. 96-436
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 682 So. 2d 788 (Ecroyd v. Ecroyd) 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
Ecroyd v. Ecroyd, 682 So. 2d 788, 1996 WL 577427 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

h SULLIVAN, Judge.

Hank Ecroyd and Leslie Valentino Ecroyd both appeal the trial court judgment partitioning the community that formerly existed between them. We find merit to some of the contentions raised by each party, and we affirm as amended herein.

Facts

Hank and Leslie were married in Lafayette Parish on October 28, 1989. One child, Emma Yvonne, was born of the marriage. Before they married, Hank and Leslie each owned immovable property in the city of Lafayette; Leslie owned a town home on Phlox Street and Hank owned a detached dwelling on Grenada Drive. After the marriage, the couple made the Grenada Drive residence their matrimonial domicile until June 11, 1991, when they purchased a new home in Mandeville, Louisiana. Before moving to Mandeville, they sold both Lafayette properties.

hOn August 18,1992, Leslie left the matrimonial domicile in Mandeville and moved to Alexandria, Louisiana. The next day, August 19,1992, she filed for divorce in Rapides Parish. On January 26, 1994, Hank filed the instant suit to partition the community. Hank continued to live in the Mandeville home, where he was residing when the partition was tried on March 15 and 16, 1994. The parties were pronounced divorced in open court on August 30, 1993, the written judgment being signed on March 16, 1994.

The trial court took the partition suit under advisement on March 16, 1994 and rendered written reasons some fourteen months later, on May 12, 1995. After determining the value of the community and deciding the reimbursement claims of the former spouses, the trial court ordered Hank to pay Leslie a sum of $13,056.76 to equalize the interest in the community or to immediately place the Mandeville home for sale and divide the proceeds with Leslie. A written judgment in conformity with the trial comb’s reasons was signed on November 3, 1995. Both parties have appealed, Hank assigning seven errors and Leslie assigning six.

[790]*790The Family Home

Hank first points out two errors in the trial court’s calculation of the equity in the Mandeville home. He contends the trial court made a mathematical error and chose an incorrect figure as to the outstanding mortgage balance. We agree with Hank’s contentions.

Both parties submitted expert appraisals of the Mandeville home, with the trial court averaging the appraisals to reach a value of $195,000.00. Neither party objects to this figure. To determine the equity in the home, the trial court subtracted the outstanding mortgage balance from the value it assigned to the home. However, instead of using the stipulated balance at the time of trial, $133,181.71, the court calculated the equity based upon an updated balance of $131,916.05. This figure ^appears on an amortization table (admitted into evidence) as the balance for the month in which the trial court issued its written reasons. The court also made a subtraction error, fixing the equity at $73,361.48 rather than $63,-083.95.

La.R.S. 9:2801(4)(a) directs the trial court in a community property partition to “value the assets at the time of trial on the merits, determine the liabilities, and adjudicate the claims of the parties.” In Allen v. Allen, 602 So.2d 759 (La.App. 3 Cir.1992), we held that the trial court failed to follow § 9:2801 when it valued community assets at the time of remand from the appellate court rather than at the time of the initial trial on the merits. We stated:

The entire partition was ripe for adjudication following the trial on the merits on January 23, 1987. [Trial on remand was held on December 7, 1989.] Had the trial court initially determined the house in question was community property rather than separate, it would have then valued the community as of that date and partitioned the community in accordance with La.R.S. 9:2801.

Id. at 761.

Obviously, the trial court sought to lessen the impact of the delay between the date of trial and the date its reasons were issued. However, we find the trial court erred in relying upon the amortization table, where the record contained no evidence as to the actual balance on the date the reasons were issued. Using the balance at the time of trial, we find the community’s equity in the family home should be fixed at $61,818.29 ($195,000.00 minus $133,181.71). We note that Hank and Leslie agree that this is the correct figure.

Leslie argues that the trial court erred in awarding Hank reimbursement for one-half of the mortgage payments on the former community home that he made beyond the date of trial, in the absence of any evidence as to the amount of those payments.

La.Civ.Code art. 2365 provides in part:

If separate property of a spouse has been used to satisfy a community obligation, that spouse, upon termination of the community [4 property regime, is entitled to reimbursement for one-half of the amount or value that the property had at the time it was used. The liability of a spouse who owes reimbursement is limited to the value of his share in the community after deduction of all community obligations.

The evidence established that Hank paid a total of $24,371.02 in principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and escrow payments from the termination of the community through the date of trial, entitling him to reimbursement in the amount of $12,185.51. The trial court, however, awarded reimbursement for one-half of $37,094.56 in mortgage payments, or $18,547.28.

After taking the matter under advisement, the trial court requested additional information concerning the payments that Hank made beyond the date of trial. Hank replied in a supplemental brief that since trial he had made eight payments of $1,322.00, totaling $10,576.00. However, Hank offered no documentation in support of this statement.

In Freeman v. Freeman, 552 So.2d 636 (La.App. 2 Cir.1989), the court permitted reimbursement for mortgage payments made between the trial court’s initial judgment and an amended judgment rendered one year later, after the record had been reopened at [791]*791the request of the parties. The court in Freeman apparently had enough evidence to calculate the additional mortgage payments, as the amended judgment was rendered after a hearing. In the instant ease, we are unable to determine how the trial court reached the figure of $37,094.56. Perhaps the trial court relied upon both the additional information supplied by Hank as well as the amortization table in the record. However, we find that it was error to credit Hank for the additional payments in the absence of any evidence as to the amount of those payments and the source of the funds used for them. See Salsbury v. Salsbury, 27,062 (La.App. 2 Cir. 6/21/95); 658 So.2d 734 (reimbursement denied where husband produced no canceled cheeks or bank statements supporting his claim of payments, even though the parties stipulated |gas to the amount that the obligation had decreased) and Rogers v. Rogers, 94-541 (La.App. 5 Cir. 12/9/94); 649 So.2d 7 (reimbursement denied where wife failed to produce any documentation to support her testimony that she paid the house notes).

We find that Hank’s claim for reimbursement of mortgage payments, just as the equity in the home, should have been calculated upon the figures available at trial.

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Related

Hall v. Brookshire Bros., Ltd.
831 So. 2d 1010 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2002)
Ecroyd v. Ecroyd
713 So. 2d 638 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
682 So. 2d 788, 1996 WL 577427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ecroyd-v-ecroyd-lactapp-1996.