Landry v. Landry

610 So. 2d 1045, 1992 WL 364345
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 9, 1992
Docket91-1254
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 610 So. 2d 1045 (Landry v. Landry) 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
Landry v. Landry, 610 So. 2d 1045, 1992 WL 364345 (La. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

610 So.2d 1045 (1992)

Loretta Hebert LANDRY, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Christopher W. LANDRY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 91-1254.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

December 9, 1992.

*1046 Gerard B. Wattigny, New Iberia, and Ray Allain, Jeanerette, for plaintiff-appellant.

Robert Cole, Lafayette, for defendant-appellee.

Before GUIDRY, DOUCET and WOODARD, JJ.

WOODARD, Judge.

This is a suit for the partition of community property.

Plaintiff, Loretta Hebert Landry, appeals the judgment of the trial court and asserts the following assignments of error: (1) the trial judge erred in denying plaintiff reimbursement for separate funds used in the purchase of a community automobile; (2) the trial court erred in finding that a life insurance policy for the minor son was not a community asset and not subject to partition; (3) the trial court erred in denying plaintiff reimbursement for separate funds used to purchase the life insurance policy for the minor son; and (4) the trial court erred in denying plaintiff's cross-claim and finding that the sale of 110,000 shares of community stock by defendant did not constitute fraud or bad faith management of community property.

Plaintiff married defendant, Christopher W. Landry, on August 12, 1978. On June 6, 1990, plaintiff filed for divorce and a judgment of divorce was granted on June 25, 1990. In his reconventional demand, defendant asked for partition of the community property. Plaintiff then filed a cross claim against defendant asserting fraud or bad faith management of community property. The partition suit was tried on May 9, 1991, and formal judgment was signed on August 12, 1991. Plaintiff appeals this judgment and defendant has answered the appeal.

The relevant facts of this case will be discussed as they pertain to each assignment of error.

THE MERCEDES

In her first assignment of error, plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in denying *1047 her claim for reimbursement for separate funds used in the purchase of a 1981 Mercedes automobile.

On August 18, 1981, plaintiff purchased a $26,000 Mercedes using $12,000 of her separate funds. She withdrew this amount from her separate Certificate of Deposit (CD), and used the money as the down payment on the car. Plaintiff gave the car to defendant as an anniversary gift. A few months later defendant received a company car. He began using the company car and plaintiff drove the Mercedes for the duration of the marriage.

Defendant testified that he wanted to reimburse plaintiff for the $12,000 she withdrew from her CD because he was concerned her parents would be upset. Therefore, when the parties sold their 1979 Chevrolet truck and their 1979 Corvette, defendant gave the proceeds from the sale of these automobiles to plaintiff to do with as she wished. Defendant testified that these funds were given to plaintiff as reimbursement for the $12,000 she withdrew from her CD. Although plaintiff had the option of putting all of the money into the CD, the trial record reflects that she only deposited $5,000 from the sale of the truck into the CD. The $9,850.57 from the sale of the Corvette was deposited by plaintiff into a community checking account.

The trial judge determined the Mercedes was community property at the termination of the regime because it was returned to the community when defendant gave the car to the plaintiff for her use. We agree that the Mercedes should be classified as a community asset, although we do not find that it was returned to the community. When the car was given to the defendant as a gift, it became his separate property. Under La.C.C. art. 2343.1, in order to transfer separate property to the community, the transfer must be done by authentic act and with the stipulation that it shall become part of the community. There is no evidence that this was ever done. Therefore, the Mercedes was never given to the community.

The trial court was correct in classifying it as a community asset for purposes of distribution of the property, however, because the parties stipulated, for purposes of the Partition hearing, that it was a community asset. At trial, Plaintiff's Exhibit 1 was agreed to by both parties when it was introduced and accepted into evidence. This exhibit is a comparison of the Detailed Descriptive Lists prepared by each party. It lists items of property and indicates whether the parties agree that it is a community asset and what they determine the value of the asset to be. Item number 22 in Schedule I is described as "1981 Mercedes auto in name of Loretta Hebert." The value of the automobile as agreed upon is $3837.00. A stipulation binds all of the parties and the court. Matthew v. Aetna Cas. and Sur. Co., 578 So.2d 242 (La. App. 3 Cir.1991). Therefore, the court is bound to this classification.

Although plaintiff used separate funds to purchase this now community asset, she does not have a valid claim for reimbursement. When she purchased the Mercedes, plaintiff intended it to be an anniversary gift to defendant, and defendant confirmed in his testimony that it was a gift. In effect, the proceeds he gave her from the sale of the vehicles were gifts back to her. Reimbursement does not apply to gifts from one spouse to another. The trial court denied plaintiff's reimbursement claim stating that she was already fully reimbursed from the proceeds of the sale of the two community vehicles. We affirm the court's decision but for reasons stated above.

THE LIFE INSURANCE POLICY

In her second assignment of error, plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in determining that a life insurance policy purchased for the minor son was not a community asset and in denying her claim for reimbursement for allegedly separate funds used to purchase the policy. In his answer to the appeal, defendant asserts that the trial court erred in not finding the policy to be community property purchased with community funds. He further contends that the trial court erred in naming *1048 plaintiff as the owner of the policy, but asserts that if the policy is to be awarded to plaintiff, the value of the policy should be reflected in the value of the assets she received in the partition and that he should be awarded one-half of that value.

Plaintiff and defendant purchased the life insurance policy on April 11, 1986 with borrowed funds. On July 24, 1986, plaintiff withdrew $24,955.86 from the CD to repay the loan. Plaintiff asserts that at least $7,327.42 of the amount withdrawn from the CD were her separate funds and that she is owed reimbursement for one-half of this amount. Defendant contends no reimbursement is owed because, on the date the funds were withdrawn from the CD, plaintiff's separate funds were so commingled with community funds as to render all of the money in the CD community property. The trial court found that the life insurance policy was a whole life policy for the benefit of the minor son, Ryan. It found that plaintiff used $13,000 of her separate funds to purchase the policy and held plaintiff to be the owner of the policy. However, plaintiff was not due any reimbursement because the trial court also found that the policy was neither an asset nor an obligation of the community, and thus not subject to partition. We disagree.

In Plaintiff's Exhibit 1, the parties stipulated that the policy was a community asset. Item number 23 in Schedule I, described as "Ryan's insurance policy with a net equity at present and ownership to be assigned to one party," is assigned a value of $14,067.00.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
610 So. 2d 1045, 1992 WL 364345, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/landry-v-landry-lactapp-1992.