Martinez v. Martinez

556 So. 2d 668, 1990 WL 6331
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 30, 1990
Docket88-CA-2082
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 556 So. 2d 668 (Martinez v. Martinez) 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
Martinez v. Martinez, 556 So. 2d 668, 1990 WL 6331 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

556 So.2d 668 (1990)

Robert T. MARTINEZ
v.
Katherine DeMontluzin MARTINEZ.

No. 88-CA-2082.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

January 30, 1990.
Rehearing Denied February 21, 1990.
Writ Denied April 30, 1990.

*669 A.D. Freeman, New Orleans, for plaintiff/appellee.

Robert C. Lowe and Edith H. Morris, New Orleans, for defendant/appellant.

Before BYRNES, ARMSTRONG, and PLOTKIN, JJ.

PLOTKIN, Judge.

Katherine DeMontluzin appeals a trial court judgment awarding her husband of 28 years, Robert Martinez, the family domicile located at 6007-6009 St. Charles Avenue, claiming the trial court incorrectly classified the property as "mixed" separate and community property. Ms. DeMontluzin alleges that the property should have been classified as community, subject to Mr. Martinez's right to reimbursement for his separate property used in purchasing the home. She also contests the trial judge's decision to arbitrarily divide the community antiques between the parties.

Mr. Martinez cross appeals, also contesting the trial court's classification of the family domicile as "mixed," claiming it should have been classified as his separate property, subject to the community's right to reimbursement for community property *670 used in purchasing the home. Additionally, Mr. Martinez contests the trial judge's classification of a Merrill Lynch portfolio account as community property and the judgment awarding Ms. DeMontluzin permanent alimony. He also challenges the designation and valuation of furniture, objects of art, jewelry, country club stock, insurance policies and certificates of deposit.

Matrimonial Domicile

Robert Martinez and Katherine DeMontluzin were married in 1957 and had one child, Margot. In 1969, while the couple was living in Antwerp, Belgium, where Mr. Martinez was a salaried employee of Lykes Steamship Co., the husband inherited one-half interest in his family home at 6007-6009 St. Charles Avenue in naked ownership in indivision with his brother and sister, when his mother died. The husband and his siblings inherited the other half of the property when their father died in 1971.

In 1972, while still residing in Antwerp, the other two-thirds interest in the property not owned by Mr. Martinez was purchased by the community from Mr. Martinez's brother and sister. At that time, Hibernia Homestead granted a mortgage on the property for $60,000. The parties agree that entire $60,000 was given to Mr. Martinez's siblings and that the mortgage payments were made with community funds.

The parties returned to New Orleans and moved into the house in 1974. Between 1974 and the time the parties separated in 1985, the property was renovated extensively, on the initiative of Ms. DeMontluzin. Ms. DeMontluzin alleges that the renovated house reflects her tastes and preferences and claims that Mr. Martinez does not even like the house, citing his testimony that she had "butchered" the property. The record indicates that she has lived in the house since the separation in 1985 and that Mr. Martinez has lived at a "camp" on Veronese Road during that period.

Following an eight-day trial, the district judge issued interim reasons for judgment in which he indicated that he had decided to give the house to Ms. DeMontluzin. However, when he issued his final judgment, he classified the property as one-third the separate property of Mr. Martinez and two-thirds community property. He also found that the community had expended $93,324 to renovate the home and ordered Mr. Martinez to reimburse the community $31,108 for the amount spent to improve his one-third interest. His reasons for judgment, as well as the transcript of the hearing on motions for new trial filed by both parties, indicate that his decision to allocate the house to Mr. Martinez was based on his belief that he had no discretion to award the house to Ms. DeMontluzin since he had found that one-third of it was Mr. Martinez's separate property.

The Louisiana Civil Code articles relevant to this controversy provide, in pertinent part, as follows:

Art. 2335. Classification of property

Property of married persons is either community or separate.

Art. 2338. Community property

The community property comprises:... property acquired with ... community and separate things, unless classified as separate property under Article 2341....

Art. 2340. Presumption of community

Things in the possession of a spouse during the existence of a regime of community of acquests and gains are presumed to be community, but either spouse may prove that they are separate property.

Art. 2341. Separate property

The separate property of a spouse is his exclusively. It comprises: ... property acquired by a spouse with ... separate and community things when the value of the community things is inconsequential in comparison with the value of the separate things used....
Art. 2367. Use of separate property for the benefit of community property
If separate property of a spouse has been used for the acquisition, use, improvement, or benefit of community property, that spouse upon termination of the community is entitled to one-half of the amount or value that the property had at the time it was used if there *671 are community assets from which reimbursement may be made.

In Curtis v. Curtis, 403 So.2d 56 (La. 1981), the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed an opinion of this court, holding that immovable property purchased during the existence of a matrimonial regime was part separate and part community. The property at issue in the Curtis case had been purchased in the wife's name and the husband had on at least two occasions appeared to acknowledge the separate nature of the property. The wife made a $28,500 down payment with her separate funds, then financed the balance with a mortgage, paid with rentals from the property. On dissolution of the community, the husband sought classification of the property as community based on the fact that community property (rentals) had been used to make the mortgage payments. The trial court classified the property as the wife's separate property and recognized the community's right to reimbursement of the community funds used for mortgage payments. This court reversed, finding the property was 47.5% separate property and 52.5% community property. The supreme court reversed this court's ruling and reinstated the trial court's decision, stating as follows:

The Court of Appeal was in error in holding the property part community and part separate. While other community property states may categorize property paid for in part with separate funds and in part with community funds as mixed, Louisiana does not do so. Under our law property is characterized as either community or separate. The Civil Code articles applicable to this case ... created a strong presumption that all property acquired during the existence of a marriage fell into the community of acquests and gains.

Id. at 57-58.

The Curtis case therefore reaffirmed the long-standing principle of Louisiana law quoted in Blalock v. Blalock, 259 So.2d 367 (La.App. 2d Cir.1972) as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
556 So. 2d 668, 1990 WL 6331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martinez-v-martinez-lactapp-1990.