Mara v. Mara

513 So. 2d 1220
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 26, 1987
DocketCA 7124
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

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Bluebook
Mara v. Mara, 513 So. 2d 1220 (La. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

513 So.2d 1220 (1987)

Mary Ann Gaudin, wife of Gustave Joseph MARA
v.
Gustave Joseph MARA.

No. CA 7124.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

August 26, 1987.
Rehearing Denied November 10, 1987.

Bernard M. Plaia, Jr., Metairie, for Mary Ann Gaudin.

Salvador G. Longoria, Michele Gaudin, Gaudin and Longoria, Cindy M. Harris, New Orleans, for Gustave Joseph Mara.

Before CIACCIO, WARD and WILLIAMS, JJ.

*1221 CIACCIO, Judge.

Plaintiff, Mary Gaudin Mara and defendant, Gustave Joseph Mara each appeal from a judgment of the district court which partitioned the community of acquets and gains existing between them. We amend the judgment of the district court and as amended the judgment is affirmed.

Mr. and Mrs. Mara were married on June 1, 1968. They lived together as husband and wife from the date of their marriage until November, 1974. Prior to this marriage, Mrs. Mara had been married to John Buglione. Although she never lived in Alabama, Mrs. Mara traveled there in April 1968 before her marriage to the defendant in order to secure a divorce from Mr. Buglione. Mrs. Mara was transported to Alabama by Mr. Mara and she used the $350 given to her by him to pay the lawyer in Alabama for her divorce. She thereupon received papers which she considered to be her divorce decree. In late April, 1973, Mr. Mara desired to adopt the plaintiff's child by a prior marriage. In preparing for the adoption, Mr. Mara sought a certified copy of his wife's divorce decree from the court in Alabama. He was thereafter advised that no such decree existed. The couple, although aware that Mrs. Mara was not divorced from her prior husband, continued to live together until the time of physical separation. According to the defendant, he had planned to marry the plaintiff but she did not desire to marry him at that time.

On October 10, 1974, Mr. Mara filed an action to nullify his marriage to the plaintiff. He was granted a judgment nullifying the marriage on April 25, 1975.

On July 12, 1981, Mrs. Mara filed a Petition to Partition the community property. On appeal, this Court decided that a putative community existed between these parties and we remanded the case for a partition of the community. Mara v. Mara, 452 So.2d 329, 333 (La.App., 4th Cir., 1984).

On January 23, 1986, the district court issued the following judgment of partition:

IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the assets of the putative community formerly existing between Mrs. Mara (Now Mrs. Gaudin) and Mr. Mara are as follows:

1) Mr. Mara's pension with Reilly, Inc. Coffee Company

2) The family home at 4968 Copernicus St.

3) Some of the contents of the family home

4. Mr. Mara's gun collection

5) A 1970 Volkswagon

6) A Plymouth Station Wagon

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the value of the community assets is as follows:
1) House                            $51,000.00
2) Gun Collection                    $3,500.00
3) Savings account (spent by Mr.
   Mara)                             $2,000.00
4) Rent received by Mr. Mara         $2,000.00
                                    __________
   TOTAL                            $57,500.00

The community liabilities are as follows:

1) Mortgage on house                $13,853.00
2) One half mortgage payments paid
   by Mr. Mara                      $10,200.00
3) Community debts paid by Mr.
   Mara                              $2,000.00
                                    __________
   TOTAL                            $25,035.00
   The net value of the community
   assets is                        $31,465.00
All of the community assets and liabilities are assigned to Mr. Mara. Mr. Mara is to pay to Mrs. Gaudin the sum of $15,732.50 to compensate her for her interest and she is discharged from any further liability for the community debts. Mr. Mara has possession of the house and gun collection since the separation and they shall be his separate property.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that Mrs. Gaudin is entitled to receive from Mr. Mara's pension, when and if paid, one half of the amount thereof earned during the existence of the community.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that Mr. Mara pay to Mrs. Gaudin the value of two shares of Westinghouse stock, valued as of the date of the trial herein which was September 26, 1985.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that Mrs.

*1222 Gaudin and Mr. Mara are put in possession of their separate furniture.

* * * * * *

On appeal, each party complains of specific evaluations made by the trial court in its judgment of partition.

Defendant, Gustave Mara, suggests that this case should be remanded to the district court for a determination as to when the parties' putative marriage ended. He alleges that the trial judge's valuation of the community assets was in error because he failed to take into consideration the termination of the community which he alleges occurred prior to the judgment of partition. We agree with the defendant's assertion that the community between the parties terminated prior to the judgment of partition. Since we can establish the date of termination, we decline to remand the case for that purpose.

A good faith putative spouse is one who has an honest, reasonable belief that the marriage confected is valid. Zanders v. Zanders, 434 So.2d 1213 (La.App., 1st Cir.1983). Once the putative spouse becomes aware of an impediment to the marriage or apprises himself of facts which mandate an investigation of his marital status, he loses his status as a "good faith" putative spouse. Succession of Hopkins, 114 So.2d 742 (La.App., 1st Cir., 1959). The facts and circumstances of each case determines the existence and duration of the good faith of the parties. See: Schaefer v. Schaefer, 379 So.2d 864 (La.App., 4th Cir., 1980) writ den., 383 So.2d 13. Once the putative status ceases, the civil effects of the putative marriage cease to flow. Evans v. Eureka Grand Lodge, 149 So. 305 (La.App., 2d Cir., 1933).

In our prior decision involving these litigants, this Court determined that the plaintiff was the putative wife of the defendant and the civil effects of marriage flowed from this union. Mara v. Mara, 452 So.2d 329 (La.App., 4th Cir., 1984). As such, we determined that a community of acquets and gains existed between the parties. Mara v. Mara, supra. We were not called upon at that time to determine, nor did we determine, the date of the termination of the community. We did determine, however, that the couple received notice on April 23, 1973 that there was no record of Mrs. Mara's prior divorce proceedings. In our opinion, this notice was sufficient to apprise these litigants that an impediment existed to their marriage. As such we find that the putative marriage of the plaintiff and defendant terminated as of April 23, 1973. Since these parties' good faith ceased as of that date, so also did the civil effects flowing from the putative marriage. Accordingly, this date, April 23, 1973, marks the effective termination date for the community of acquets and gains. All assets acquired or liabilities incurred after this date would presumptively be the separate property or obligations of the respective individuals. Thus, it was error for the trial judge to fail to consider this fact in evaluating the assets and liabilities of the litigants.

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