Jones v. Jones

641 S.W.2d 342, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 5029
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 26, 1982
Docket1980cv
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 641 S.W.2d 342 (Jones v. Jones) 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
Jones v. Jones, 641 S.W.2d 342, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 5029 (Tex. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION

GONZALEZ, Justice.

This is an appeal from a proceeding in the nature of a bill of review in a divorce action. The trial court, granted the bill of review and changed the terms of a previous judgment.

The divorce was filed by James Jones-ap-pellee. Dora Guillen Jones, appellant, filed a waiver of citation and did not otherwise appear. A property settlement agreement was filed, approved by the trial court and the divorce was granted. That judgment was not appealed and became final.

Thereafter, Mr. Jones filed a bill of review seeking to set aside the property settlement agreement alleging that Mrs. Jones had concealed community funds in excess of Thirty Five Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($35,000.00) in a savings account. The trial court, after a trial without a jury, held that Mrs. Jones had concealed the funds, that this constituted extrinsic fraud, that Mr. Jones was not negligent in failing to discover the existence of the funds and, was therefore entitled to a bill of review. The court reconsidered the division of the property and awarded Mr. Jones Eighteen Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($18,000.00) of the funds in question. Mrs. Jones perfected an appeal from this judgment.

On appeal, Mrs. Jones contends that the trial court erred because Mr. Jones “failed to allege and prove facts sufficient to entitle him to a bill of review” and “in rendering judgment in favor of appellee on any grounds other than those plead (sic) in the bill of review, if he did, since appellee failed to plead or prove any other sufficient grounds.” We affirm.

The original action was one for divorce, disposition of community property and custody and support of the minor children. The parties reached an agreement regarding all issues. This agreement was approved by the trial court as submitted by the parties and provided that Mrs. Jones would receive three pieces of property including the home and furniture and a 1973 Cadillac. Mr. Jones received one piece of property, a 1973 Dodge pick-up and a 1977 Thunderbird and was ordered to pay Six Hundred and No/100 Dollars ($600.00) per month child support.

After the divorce had become final, Mr. Jones learned that Mrs. Jones had over Thirty Five Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($35,000.00) in a savings account. He filed suit seeking to enjoin Mrs. Jones from withdrawing the Thirty Five Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($35,000.00) from First Texas Savings Association and to partition the same as being assets not taken into consideration by the trial court in the original division of the community property. Thereafter, he filed his “Original Petition for Bill of Review.”

In his petition for bill of review, Mr. Jones pled that Mrs. Jones fraudulently concealed from ■ him community funds in excess of Thirty Five Thousand and No/100 . Dollars ($35,000.00) and that he entered into a property settlement agreement unaware of these funds. He further pled that had he known of these funds he would not have agreed to give Mrs. Jones considerably more than ½ of the community property and that he was diligent because he had asked Mrs. Jones if there were any other accounts and she told him that no other savings accounts existed.

In the suit for partition, he alleged that the divorce decree failed to dispose of over Thirty Five Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($35,000.00) on deposit at First Texas Savings Association and that Mrs. Jones had fraudulently concealed these funds from him, that they were therefore tenants in common of these funds and he prayed that the court partition these funds. By agreement of the parties, the two suits were consolidated for trial. After a trial, the trial court made the following findings and conclusions which are recited in the judgment:

*344 (1) James Jones and Dora Guillen Jones were divorced on February 7, 1980.
(2) That the parties entered into an agreed division of their property which was approved by the court.
(3) That, Dora Guillen Jones, in the settlement of the marital property, concealed deposits amounting to approximately $35,000.00.
(4) The funds on deposit with First Texas Savings Association were not taken into account by the court in the division of the marital assets of the parties.
(5) That the concealment by Dora Guillen Jones, constitutes extrinsic fraud affecting James Jones’ rights, and that Mr. Jones was not negligent in failing to discover the funds.
(6) That James Jones is entitled to recover from the funds the sum of $18,000.00.

Recitations in the judgment itself of findings of fact and conclusions of law are not proper and cannot be considered as a substitute for separately filed findings of fact and conclusions of law. 1 Texas Hauling Contractors v. Rose Sales Company, 565 S.W.2d 240 (Tex.Civ.App.—Corpus Christi 1978, no writ). As such, they do not afford any basis upon which a losing party may attack the trial court’s judgment. Morin v. Morin, 561 S.W.2d 263 (Tex.Civ.App.—Corpus Christi 1978, no writ); Fenlon v. Jaffee, 553 S.W.2d 422 (Tex.Civ.App.—Tyler 1977, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Roberson Farm Equipment Company v. Hill, 514 S.W.2d 796 (Tex.Civ.App.—Texarkana 1973, writ ref’d n.r. e.). See also: Gonzalez v. Cavazos, 601 S.W.2d 202 (Tex.Civ.App.—Corpus Christi 1980, no writ). Therefore, we will not consider the findings of fact and conclusions of law recited in this judgment.

We are aware that there exists a conflict among several Court of Appeals on this issue. See, Davis v. Davis, 507 S.W.2d 841 (Tex.Civ.App.—Houston [14th District] 1974, rev’d on other grounds 521 S.W.2d 603; Hemphill v. S & Q Clothiers, 579 S.W.2d 564 (Tex.Civ.App.—Fort Worth 1979, no writ); Cottle v. Knapper, 571 S.W.2d 59 (Tex.Civ.App.—Tyler 1978, no writ). 2 See also: 4 McDonald, “Nonjury Trial”, Sec. 16.05 (1979). However, we are convinced that the better reasoned approach is to not consider findings of fact and conclusions of law recited in the judgment. Such recitations tend to mislead the parties, possibly resulting in one party’s failure to request and receive specific findings of fact essential to an attack on the sufficiency of the evidence.

Since no findings of fact or conclusions of law were properly filed by the trial court, and none were requested by the parties, we are relegated to an examination of the implied findings for support of the trial court’s judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
641 S.W.2d 342, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 5029, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-jones-texapp-1982.