Reynolds v. Reynolds

365 So. 2d 530
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 23, 1979
Docket6715
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 365 So. 2d 530 (Reynolds v. Reynolds) 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
Reynolds v. Reynolds, 365 So. 2d 530 (La. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

365 So.2d 530 (1978)

Glynn W. REYNOLDS, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Margaret Susan Romero REYNOLDS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 6715.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

November 15, 1978.
Rehearing Denied January 10, 1979.
Writ Granted February 23, 1979.

*531 J. Minos Simon, Lafayette, for defendant-appellant.

Gold, Little, Simon, Weems & Bruser, Charles S. Weems, III, Alexandria, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before GUIDRY, FORET and CUTRER, JJ.

GUIDRY, Judge.

This appeal presents the substantial issue, as between a husband and wife, now divorced, of the status (community or separate) of certain property, i. e., distributed and undistributed earnings from property subject to a testamentary trust in favor of the wife as income and principal beneficiary, where the wife did not execute an affidavit of paraphernality as required by LSA-C.C. Article 2386.[1]

The issue presented arises as a result of the following facts which are undisputed. The parties litigant were married to each other on July 9, 1966. On February 6, 1970 they were judicially separated and eventually *532 divorced. Mrs. Reynolds did not execute and record an affidavit of paraphernality pursuant to the provisions of LSA-C.C. Article 2386. The community of acquets and gains existing between plaintiff and defendant acquired property however, upon termination of the community, the bulk of the community estate was settled amicably. The only property, the status of which is disputed on appeal, are monies distributed to Mrs. Reynolds and monies accrued but undistributed to Mrs. Reynolds at the dissolution of the community, as a principal and income beneficiary under a testamentary trust established in the last will and testament of her grandmother, Mrs. Minnie Smith Sledge. The testamentary trust came into existence at the death of the settlor which occurred some nine years before the marriage of the Reynolds. Under the terms of the trust a large rice farm in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, together with all improvements, equipment, etc., was bequeathed to C. H. Brookshire, as trustee, to hold the property in trust for the settlor's grandchildren, including Mrs. Reynolds, as principal and income beneficiaries, who were to share and participate in said property, pursuant to the trust, in equal proportions. It is undisputed that Mrs. Reynolds participation was to the extent of onefourth. The trust so created was to continue until such time as the youngest of the grandchildren living at the time of settlor's death attained the age of twenty-one years. At the termination of the trust the entire trust estate was to be delivered to the beneficiaries in equal proportions and in full ownership. During the duration of the trust the trustee was directed to pay to the beneficiaries monthly, or at such periodic intervals as the trustee might determine best in his discretion, such sums as might be necessary to permit the beneficiaries to properly maintain and educate themselves, including ordinary and usual luxuries, which the trustee, in his discretion, might deem proper and reasonable. During the period of the marriage Mrs. Reynolds received as distributed trust income the sum of $11,913.85. These funds were deposited in a checking account in the Kaplan State Bank, which account was exclusively controlled by Mrs. Reynolds. At trial the parties stipulated that from this account Mrs. Reynolds expended the sum of $9660.26 on items like clothes for herself and the children, household items etc. The record reflects that upon dissolution of the community a balance of $555.18 remained in this account and the balance in the account of C. H. Brookshire, Trustee, representing undistributed earnings, amounted to the sum of $11434.80.

In light of these facts the defendant, Mrs. Reynolds (now Mrs. Stewart), contends that the distributed trust income and her proportionate share of the undistributed trust income, constitutes separate property and she thus is entitled to judgment recognizing this to be the status of such property and restitution from the former community to the extent of $9660.26. On the other hand the plaintiff, Mr. Reynolds, contends that the distributed and undistributed income, constitutes "fruits" of the paraphernal property of his former wife which, absent execution and recordation of the LSA-C.C. Article 2386 affidavit, formed part of the community of acquets and gains which existed between the parties. Plaintiff thus contends that defendant's demand for restitution should be rejected and he should be awarded judgment against his former wife for one-half of the distributed trust income remaining on deposit, i. e., the sum of $277.59, and one-half of his former wife's proportionate share of the undistributed income, i. e., $1429.35.

The trial court concluded that both the distributed and undistributed trust income was the separate property of Mrs. Reynolds, reasoning as follows:

". . . The fact to keep in mind in this case is that the property that was the corpus of the trust was not Mrs. Margaret Romero Reynolds' property. Since she did not have this property there was no way for her paraphernal property to produce fruits which would become community property. The law states that the property belongs to the trustee. R.S. 9:1781 provides:
*533 `A trustee is a person to whom title to the trust property is transferred to be administered by him as a fiduciary.'
The instrument setting up the trust placed the title to the property in the trustee.
`I. I give and bequeath my farm property, comprising 640 acres, more or less, situated in the Parish of Vermillion (sic) Louisiana, together with all improvements, equipment, farm implements, and movable property situated therein, under (sic) C. H. Brookshire, a resident of the Parish of Vermillion, (sic) Louisiana, trustee, to have and to hold all of the said property in trust for my grandchildren . . . .'
Mrs. Margaret Romero Reynolds did not own the property therefore it could not be considered her separate and paraphernal property. She had no right to make demands of anything of the trustee, not even the monies that were deposited in her bank account. The trust provided that the trustee was to pay sums to Mrs. Reynolds but solely at his discretion and that `the discretion given to the trustee shall be absolute and not be subject to the questioned (sic) by any of the beneficiaries of the trust.' The trustee had the authority to sell the property. Actually the only property that Mrs. Reynolds received from this source during the community regime was the funds that were deposited in the bank. The funds were the property. The funds were not the fruits of her paraphernal property but were the property per se. There is no proof that the funds deposited in the bank bore any fruits whatever. Apparently no interest accrued on this account nor did it create any kind of revenue from any source or for any reason.
The Court is of the opinion also that Mrs. Margaret Romero had no interest in the account maintained by the trustee. The only time she was entitled to any of the funds from the trust were when the trustee, at his sole discretion, transferred funds to her. The funds in the bank account of the trustee belonged to the trustee and not to Mrs. Romero. They became hers when they were transferred from the trustee's bank account to her bank account. Even if it is considered that it was her separate property there is no proof that it produced any fruits.

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Related

Reynolds v. Reynolds
388 So. 2d 1135 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
365 So. 2d 530, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reynolds-v-reynolds-lactapp-1979.