Morrow v. Morrow

210 P.2d 101, 187 Or. 161, 1949 Ore. LEXIS 183
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 14, 1949
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 210 P.2d 101 (Morrow v. Morrow) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morrow v. Morrow, 210 P.2d 101, 187 Or. 161, 1949 Ore. LEXIS 183 (Or. 1949).

Opinion

*162 BAILEY, J.

In this suit both plaintiff and defendant seek a decree of divorce and the determination of property rights. The Circuit Court (1) granted plaintiff a decree of divorce, $200 attorney’s fees and costs; (2) gave her all the “furniture and furnishings had and possessed by the parties on October 14, 1946”; (3) decreed her to be the owner of a one-half interest in the real property held by the parties as tenants by the entirety; (4) decreed that “all moneys and other personal property other than personal clothing and effects jointly owned and possessed by said parties on or prior to October 14,1946, be equally divided between plaintiff and defendant, each one-half thereof”; and (5) granted to defendant “as his sole and separate property the farming tools, implements, machinery and vehicles had and possessed by the parties on October 14, 1946.” From subdivisions 3, 4, and 5 of the above decree plaintiff has appealed. Our review of the case is limited to the property settlement decreed by the trial court.

Plaintiff and defendant were married in Carson City, Nevada, on July 7, 1942. They were then living in California. At the time of their marriage plaintiff owned some residential property in San Carlos, Cali *163 fornia; a contract of sale of a farm on which there was an unpaid balance of approximately $2,400, payable $30 monthly; and the furniture and furnishings of the house in which she was then living. Defendant had about $150 in a checking account in the bank and owned an automobile that he bought for $1,500, on which there was a $900 mortgage. There was also $1,067.27 in their joint savings account which will later be discussed in more detail.

Plaintiff, whose name then was Else Fischer, met defendant the latter part of August, 1941, when he rented a room in her home in San Francisco. He moved into this room on the 1st of September, 1941, and on the 25th day of that month they became engaged to be married. She had, shortly prior thereto, received an interlocutory decree of divorce from Henry Fischer. On or about December 20, 1941, they opened a joint savings account in The San Francisco Bank in the names of Claude E. Morrow or Else Fischer. The initial deposit was $400, $300 of which was supplied by him and $100 by her. After their marriage this joint account was closed and the balance of $1,156.52 then on deposit was transferred to a new account in the same bank in the name of Claude E. Morrow or Else Morrow. The total deposited in the two accounts was $2,417.72, the greater portion of which, to wit, more than $1,600, was plaintiff’s own money.

Defendant testified that after this account was opened he had no individual checking or savings account. It appears, however, from the record, and subsequently admitted by defendant, that on November 26, 1941, he opened a checking account in The San Francisco Bank and that thereafter, and prior to October 2,1942, he deposited therein $2,322.13. On October 2, 1942, he transferred the balance of $369.54, in this *164 checking account, to a joint checking account in the same bank in the names of Claude E. Morrow or Else Morrow. There was deposited in this account a total of $1,936.76, and at least $600 thereof, was transferred from the joint savings account of Mr. and Mrs. Morrow. The total amount deposited in the joint savings account and in the joint checking account was $4,354.48.

We quote from defendant’s brief as follows: “The parties formed the joint bank account * * * in November, 1941. Thereafter the money earned by respondent, $65.00 to $70.00 per week, was deposited in this joint account and the respondent had earned and placed in this account $6,284.00 prior to the time the parties came to Oregon.” We have already pointed out that the joint savings account was opened in December, 1941, not in November; that the total amount deposited therein was $2,417.72; and that at least two-thirds of this amount was plaintiff’s own money. In the joint checldng account, which was opened on October 2, 1942, there was deposited a total of $1,936.76, and, as hereinbefore stated, at least $600 of that amount was transferred from the joint savings account.

Plaintiff and defendant moved to Oregon in August, 1943. Before leaving California defendant withdrew the balances in their two joint accounts, to wit: $860.86 from the savings account and $216.12 from the checking account. About the time they left California there was deposited in their joint names in a bank at Oregon City $5,520.54, which money was later withdrawn therefrom and, on the 17th day of September of that year, deposited in their joint savings account in a bank at Corvallis. This deposit consisted of $2,030, which Mrs. Morrow received as the balance of the sale price of the farm hereinbefore mentioned, and the money which she received from her San Carlos property, which was *165 sold for $6,700. Out of the amount of money received by her from the sale of the San Carlos property, she paid to the American Trust Company, in satisfaction of a mortgage thereon, the sum of $3,126.99. It is suggested by defendant that she probably had to pay a real estate broker’s commission. It will thus be seen that practically the entire amount, if not all, of $5,520.54 deposited in the bank at Corvallis came from the sale of real property in California owned by plaintiff.

On September 11, 1943, plaintiff and defendant bought a tract of approximately 72 acres in the vicinity of Corvallis for the sum of $6,350. The earnest money of $500 was paid by defendant, apparently from the money which he withdrew from the two joint accounts in San Francisco. On November 12,1943, the Morrows paid on the purchase price $4,350, withdrawing that amount from, their joint savings account in the Cor^ vallis bank. Later on they sold three acres for $1,250 and applied it on the purchase price. The $5,520.54 sent from California was, with the money received from the sale of the three-acre tract, more than sufficient to pay the entire purchase price of the farm.

It is, however, contended by defendant that he should be given credit for some of the money received from the sale of the San Carlos property. He asserts that he paid on the mortgage on the San Carlos property five monthly installments of $33.84 and 19 monthly installments of $34.50, maldng a total of $824.70, and that he performed certain work in improving that property. He testified that he made the first payment on September 5, 1941, which was a very few days after he met plaintiff. At the time plaintiff and defendant were married and until they moved into the San Carlos property in September, *166 1942, where they lived until they came to Portland in August, 1943, Mrs. Morrow was receiving $40 a month rental therefrom. The money thus received was at first deposited in their joint savings account and later, after it was opened, in their joint cheeking account. Mrs. Morrow denies that he paid any of his own money on the mortgage and asserts that if he made any payments it was with money which she furnished him for that purpose or from their joint accounts.

We are unable to determine from the record whether defendant made any of these payments.

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Bluebook (online)
210 P.2d 101, 187 Or. 161, 1949 Ore. LEXIS 183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morrow-v-morrow-or-1949.