Granger v. Granger

722 So. 2d 107, 1998 WL 857199
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 9, 1998
Docket98-429
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 722 So. 2d 107 (Granger v. Granger) 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
Granger v. Granger, 722 So. 2d 107, 1998 WL 857199 (La. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

722 So.2d 107 (1998)

Julie Ann Mouiller GRANGER, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Carl Douglas GRANGER, Jr., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 98-429.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

December 9, 1998.

*108 Nicholas Soileau, Mamou, for Julie Ann Mouiller Granger.

Kathy Fontenot Deshotel, Ville Platte, for Carl Douglas Granger, Jr.

Before DOUCET, C.J., and COOKS and SULLIVAN, JJ

COOKS, Judge.

This appeal arises from a community property partition suit between Julie Ann Mouiller Granger and Carl Douglas Granger, Jr. Mrs. Granger appeals the trial court's decision characterizing the family residence as Mr. Granger's separate property. She also appeals the trial court's decision granting Mr. Granger a credit of $1100 against his half of the community obligation. Finally, she appeals the trial court's decision to reduce her portion of community assets by the amount of community property she already possesses.

For the reasons which follow, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

BACKGROUND FACTS

Doug and Julie Granger were married on June 8, 1984. On April 23, 1991, Mrs. Granger filed a petition for divorce which was granted on February 25, 1992. Following the divorce, she filed a petition for a partition of the community assets, along with a detailed description listing the items she alleged was community property. Among other things, she alleged that the brick home the parties purchased during the marriage was community property. Further, she alleged that all improvements on the home were also acquired by using community funds. Finally, she alleged that certain debts were community debts and that Mr. Granger owed her reimbursement for payment of these debts up until the time of trial and that any remaining portion should be split or allocated equally between the parties for payment.

*109 Mr. Granger filed an answer to the petition and also filed a detailed descriptive list. He alleged, among other things, that the brick home purchased during the marriage was his separate property and that he paid his half of the debts listed by Mrs. Granger. He also submitted that Mrs. Granger received certain monies at the termination of the marriage, either by a division of cash on hand or Mrs. Granger took possession of certain monies from their joint bank accounts, and that as a result, she was not entitled to receive any from their community property.

After a trial on the merits, the trial court classified the various properties and debts as either being separate or community. Specifically, the trial judge found the home and all improvements purchased with the home was Mr. Granger's separate property. He also ruled the debt owed to the Fertility Institute of New Orleans was a community debt, but allowed Mr. Granger a credit of $1100 against his half of the community debt. Finally, the trial court found Mrs. Granger left the matrimonial domicile with community funds on deposit at American Security Bank. As a consequence, the judge credited this amount to Mrs. Granger's share of the community property.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

She now assigns the following errors for review:

1. Whether the appellee commingled community property and separate funds that were in Certificates of Deposit and Money Market Accounts listed in both appellant's and appellee's names; which funds were deposited in a joint checking account and used to purchase the community brick home, so as to make the home community property.
2. Whether the appellee is entitled to a credit of $1100 against his half of the community debt owed to the Fertility Institute of New Orleans and if not what then is the amount owed by each.
3. Whether or not any evidence or proof is contained in the record that appellant left the matrimonial domicile with the sums on deposit at American Security Bank in accounts # 563447 with a balance of $2586.31 and # XX-XXXX-X with a balance of $500, so as to thereby reduce appellant's half of the former community property as already received.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Generally, an appellate court may not set aside the factual findings of a trial court unless there is a finding of manifest error or it is clearly wrong. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989); Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978). "The reviewing court must review the record in its entirety to determine whether the trial court's finding was clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous." Butler v. Zapata Haynie Corp., 92-71, p. 7 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/23/94); 633 So.2d 1274, 1278, writ granted in part and denied in part, 94-1171 (La.7/5/94); 639 So.2d 1186; cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1017, 115 S.Ct. 579, 130 L.Ed.2d 494 (1994). To reverse the determinations of the trial court, an appellate court must:

1) find from the record that a reasonable factual basis does not exist for the finding of the trial court, and
2) determine that the record establishes that the finding is clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous.

Stobart v. State, Through DOTD, 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993).

LAW AND ANALYSIS

The Brick Home

Mrs. Granger contends the trial court committed manifest error in holding that the brick home and the improvements were the separate property of Mr. Granger. We disagree.

On May 30, 1993, the Grangers purchased a purchased a brick home for $30,000 from the father and sister of Mr. Granger. The Act of Cash Sale listed the purchasers as "Carl Douglas Granger and Julie Ann Granger, husband and wife." The funds used to purchase the brick home came from the appellee's and appellant's joint Certificates of Deposit and Money Market Accounts. These funds were eventually placed in the appellee's and appellant's joint checking account *110 from which checks in the amount of $20,000 and $10,000 were issued to the appellee's father and sister. Mr. Granger points out the vast majority of these funds represents a portion of his mother's estate which he acquired by succession. Mrs. Granger argues that the $30,000 is comprised of community funds commingled with separate funds, making all of the funds community property. She urges that the brick home and its improvements are community assets.

La.Civ.Code art. 2338 provides:
The community property comprises: property acquired during the existence of the legal regime through the effort, skill, or industry of either spouse; property acquired with community things or with community and separate things, unless classified as separate property under Article 2341; property donated to the spouses jointly; natural and civil fruits of community property; damages awarded for loss or injury to a thing belonging to the community; and all other property not classified by law as separate property.

"Things in the possession of a spouse during the existence of a regime of community acquets and gains are presumed to be community, but either spouse may prove that they are separate property." La.Civ.Code art. 2340 (emphasis added).

La.Civ.Code art. 2341 states in pertinent part:

The separate property of a spouse is his exclusively.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
722 So. 2d 107, 1998 WL 857199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/granger-v-granger-lactapp-1998.