McClure v. McClure

870 S.W.2d 358, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 301, 1994 WL 44221
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 16, 1994
Docket2-93-068-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 870 S.W.2d 358 (McClure v. McClure) 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
McClure v. McClure, 870 S.W.2d 358, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 301, 1994 WL 44221 (Tex. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

HILL, Chief Justice.

Dessie Katherine McClure appeals from the trial court’s decree of divorce from Harold Yoakum McClure, a decree that included a judgment against her in the amount of $41,000 as a reimbursement to Harold’s separate estate for Harold’s separate property that the trial court found to be in Dessie’s possession. She contends in nine points of error that: (1) there is no evidence to support the judgment, or, alternatively, it is against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence; (2) the trial court erred by failing to find that $42,000 delivered by Harold to Dessie was a gift and erred by finding that it was a conditional gift in contemplation of marriage; (3) the trial court abused its discretion in the division of the estate of the parties by ordering Dessie to reimburse Harold $16,000 of the purchase price of the Cadillac awarded to Dessie, or, alternatively, the trial court erred by failing to find that the Cadillac is Dessie’s separate property by reason of its purchase with a gift from Harold combined with partial payment of the purchase money from Dessie’s sepárate property; (4) the trial court erred by failing to find that the $24,500 deposited by Dessie to her separate bank account was a gift to her from Harold; (5) the trial court erred by ordering Dessie to reimburse Harold the sum of $5,500, part of the $24,500; (6) the trial court erred by failing to confirm that the sum of approximately $9,500 in Dessie’s possession and control is her separate property; and (7) the trial court erred by awarding judgment to Harold for attorney’s fees.

We affirm that portion of the judgment decreeing a divorce of the parties but reverse the remainder of the judgment and remand that portion of this cause for further proceed- *360 mgs because we hold that the trial court erred by finding that the funds given by Harold to Dessie to pay off the indebtedness on her condominium were Harold’s separate property when Dessie, even though she had partially complied with the condition of the gift, had not had an opportunity to fully comply with the condition from the time Harold first indicated a desire to revoke the gift.

Dessie contends in points of error numbers one and two that there is no evidence to support the judgment to Harold of $41,000 or, alternatively, that it is against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence.

Harold and Dessie were married on May 12, 1992. They separated on July 28, 1992. In the decree of divorce the trial court found that one Cadillac automobile was the only community property accumulated by Harold and Dessie during their marriage. The trial court awarded the Cadillac to Dessie.

The court awarded Harold a judgment for $41,000 for his separate property that the court found to be in Dessie’s possession. Dessie questions the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the trial court’s finding that she has $41,000 of Harold’s separate property in her possession. The trial court filed no findings of fact and conclusions of law, and none were requested.

With respect to Dessie’s no evidence point of error, we must consider only the evidence and inferences that tend to support the trial court’s finding and disregard all evidence and inferences to the contrary. See Sherman v. First Nat’l Bank, 760 S.W.2d 240, 242 (Tex.1988) (per curiam).

Other than the Cadillac, which the court found to be the only community property accumulated by the parties, all of the property in Dessie’s possession at the time of the divorce consisted of: her own separate property; $19,000, which was the remainder of $24,500 that Dessie withdrew from joint banking accounts funded wholly by Harold’s separate property; and $22,000 remaining from $42,000 Harold had given Dessie to pay off the indebtedness that she owed on an Arlington condominium. She had paid off part of the indebtedness but had put the rest in a personal savings account.

We will first determine whether the evidence supports the trial court’s implied finding that the money taken by Dessie from the couple’s joint account was Harold’s separate property. There is no dispute that the funds belonged to Harold before the marriage. Of the total of $24,500 in funds taken in cash by Dessie, $7,500 was taken from an account at the Community Bank in Granbury styled in the names of Dessie K. or Harold Y. McClure. The parties referred to this account as their “Goldstar” account. Seventeen thousand dollars was taken from a money market account at the same bank. The account was styled in the name of H.Y. or Dessie K. McClure.

Harold testified that he opened the Gold-star account with his separate funds to be an operating account for him and Dessie. He said it was for the use of both of them. With respect to the money market account, Harold, who had the account at the time of the marriage, said he fixed it so that Dessie could sign on it so that if anything should happen to him that she would be able to use it. We hold that this evidence supports the trial court’s finding that the $24,500 taken by Dessie was Harold’s separate property. The trial court could have reasonably determined that Harold intended a gift to the community of any funds reasonably used by the parties for community purposes, but did not intend such a gift when, as here, Dessie withdrew the funds upon advice of counsel in anticipation of the parties’ separation or divorce.

We will next consider whether the remainder of the funds that Harold had given Dessie to pay off her condominium are Harold’s separate property or Dessie’s separate property. It is undisputed that Harold gave the funds to Dessie for the purpose of paying off the indebtedness on her Arlington condominium. It is also undisputed that Dessie only used part of the funds for that purpose, that she is holding the remainder of the funds in a savings account, and that she is indicating that she still wishes to use the funds for the purpose stipulated by Harold. Since the initiation of this action, she has *361 been enjoined from spending funds except for living expenses.

If a gift is made upon a condition, then failure of, violation of, or refusal to perform the condition by the donee constitutes good ground for revocation of the gift by the donor. Franklin v. Moss, 101 S.W.2d 711, 714 (Mo.1937); see also McLain v. Gilliam, 389 S.W.2d 131, 132 (Tex.Civ.App.—Eastland 1965, writ ref'd n.r.e.) (gift made in contemplation of marriage is recoverable if engagement is broken). However, while a voluntary donor may revoke his gift at any time before the compliance by the other party with the condition upon which it is to be delivered, yet, when the donee has partially complied with such condition to the acceptance of the donor, the donor cannot then withdraw his donation without giving the do-nee an opportunity to fully comply. Brown v. Allbright, 110 Ark. 394, 401, 161 S.W. 1036, 1039 (1913).

There is no evidence that Dessie has been given any opportunity, from the time that Harold first indicated any desire to revoke this conditional gift, to fully comply with the condition.

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870 S.W.2d 358, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 301, 1994 WL 44221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcclure-v-mcclure-texapp-1994.