Harriss v. Harriss

204 So. 3d 209, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1877
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 12, 2016
Docket16-9
StatusPublished

This text of 204 So. 3d 209 (Harriss v. Harriss) 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
Harriss v. Harriss, 204 So. 3d 209, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1877 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

PICKETT, Judge.

bin this community property partition proceeding, the ex-wife appeals the award and denial of certain reimbursement claims made by the trial court. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm in part, amend in part, and render judgment.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Kristin Sweezy Harriss and Micah Bradley Harriss were married on July 18, 2009. A petition for divorce was filed on December 1, 2010, and a judgment of divorce was signed by the trial court on September 6, 2011. Kristin sought interim spousal support which was awarded by the trial court in a judgment dated February 7, 2011. Micah was ordered to pay interim spousal support to Kristin in the form of direct payments as follows: 1) $630.00 per month to Pharview Stables for maintenance of a horse; 2) $240.00 per month for her note on a Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck; 3) $50.00 per month for her Capital One credit card; 4) $905.00 per month for rent to Chateau des Lyons; and 5) $800.00 per month for her personal use. Interim support was retroactive to December 2, 2010. In the judgment granting divorce, the trial court terminated interim spousal support as of that date and terminated the community of acquets and gains retroactive to December 2,2010.

Kristin filed a Petition to Partition Community Property on October 13, 2011. On October 14, 2011, the trial court signed an Order directing the parties to each file a Sworn Detailed Descriptive List (DDL) of all community property, including debts and assets, “within forty-five (45) days of service of [the] pleading” in accordance with La.R.S. 9:2801. Kristin timely filed a DDL on October 14, 2011, in which she listed a 2009 Titan horse trailer as the only community asset and the balance on a note payable to Lourdes Credit Union/LeBlanc Trailer Sales for the horse trailer in the amount of $3,714.47, as'the |2only community liability. She also listed six reimbursement claims and asserted that four of the claims represented payments she made on community obligations with her separate property.

Micah failed to timely file a DDL. The trial court originally granted Micah’s ex-parte Motion to Extend the Detailed Descriptive List Deadline but recalled that order upon learning of misrepresentations made regarding that filing. Kristin filed a motion to have her DDL deemed a “judicial determination of the parties’ assets and liabilities” as provided in La.R.S. 9:2801(a). The trial court granted her motion in a judgment signed on April 20, 2012. Micah filed his DDL seventy-eight days late. Kristin filed a motion to have her DDL deemed the order of the court, and the trial court granted her motion.

In November 2014, Kristin filed an Amended DDL. Shortly before trial, she filed a Combined DDL in which she listed all of her and Micah’s reimbursement claims. Micah also filed an Amended DDL and a Combined DDL, At trial, each party stipulated to certain claims asserted by the other and agreed on the dollar amounts of many of the other party’s claims.

After a full hearing, the trial court granted the attorneys’ requests for thirty days to submit post-trial briefs. Following submission of these briefs, the trial court issued a judgment captioned “Reasons for Ruling and Judgment.” The trial court determined that Kristin was entitled to reimbursements totaling $14,423.90 and that Micah was entitled to reimbursements totaling $32,725.27. Accordingly, the trial court ordered Kristin to pay Micah the sum of $18,301.37 as an equalizing payment.

[213]*213. Kristin appealed the trial court’s judgment. Micah did not appeal and did not file an answer on appeal.

I ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

On appeal, Kristin sets forth the following eight assignments of error:

1. Most importantly, the trial court arrived at its equitable distribution without viewing the various reimbursement claims in light of the pro- , visions of the Louisiana Civil Code [A]rfcicles 2365 and 2367.
2. The trial court erroneously failed to award Appellant reimbursement for her payments on the horse trailer, totaling $1,857.24, stating that she had possession of the horse trailer throughout these proceedings.
3. The trial court erroneously awarded Appellee reimbursement for the payment of his sole share of the 2009 federal and state income tax obligations in the total amount of $8,422.13.
4. The trial court erroneously failed to award Appellant reimbursement for the payments of Appellee’s personal pickup truck and insurance on his truck and his personal motorcycle in the total amount of $10,258.57.
5. The trial court erroneously granted Appellee reimbursement for a presumed community dentist bill paid with community funds in the' amount of $268.97.
6. The trial court erroneously awarded Appellee reimbursement for the maintenance and housing of Appellant’s two separately owned horses in the amount of $5,170.23.
7. The trial court erroneously awarded Appellee reimbursement on a Best Buy credit card in the amount of $473.50, without proof that the credit card charges were Appellant’s charges prior to the marriage.
8.The trial court erroneously awarded Appellee reimbursement in the amount of $7,477.50 for the 2010 tax obligation which contained taxes, penalties[,] and interest for his premarital tax filings wherein he claimed expenses which were later deemed to be nondeductible.

DISCUSSION

The parties stipulated that the community property consisted solely of the 2009 Titan horse trailer purchased during the marriage and financed through Lourdes Credit Union and that the value of the horse trailer at the time the community terminated was $2,900.00. The parties also stipulated that Kristin paid off the horse trailer debt with her separate funds after the petition for divorce was 14filed and that she was entitled to reimbursement of $1,857.24, which represents one-half of the community debt she paid with her separate funds.

General Rules Applicable to Reimbursement Claims

In her first assignment of error, Kristin identifies a number of issues with respect to the parties’ reimbursement claims that pertain to the Civil Code’s classification of community obligations and separate obligations as provided in La.Civ.Code arts. 2360, 2361, and 2363 and the need to designate the parties’ reimbursement claims as limited to one-half of the net value of the community or unlimited, as provided in La.Civ.Code arts. 2364 through and 2367,3.

A community obligation is one “incurred by a spouse during' the existence of a community property regime for the common interest of the spouses or for the interest of the other spouse.” La.Civ.Code art. 2360. “[A]ll obligations incurred by a spouse during the existence of a commuhi[214]*214ty property regime are presumed to be community obligations,” unless the obligations are separate obligations incurred by one of the spouses during the marriage. La.Civ.Code arts, 2361, 2363. This court has held that the presumption of La.Civ. Code art. 2361

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Bluebook (online)
204 So. 3d 209, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1877, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harriss-v-harriss-lactapp-2016.