Succession of Guerin

542 So. 2d 1102, 1989 WL 35235
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 11, 1989
DocketCA 88 0238
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 542 So. 2d 1102 (Succession of Guerin) 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
Succession of Guerin, 542 So. 2d 1102, 1989 WL 35235 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

542 So.2d 1102 (1989)

SUCCESSION OF Joseph Hazael GUERIN.

No. CA 88 0238.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

April 11, 1989.

*1103 Thomas Fazio, and Neil H. Mixon, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee.

C. Jerome D'Aquila, New Roads, for appellant-Sandra F. Greene.

James C. Dewey, New Roads, for defendant-appellant-John Roy Guerin.

Before COVINGTON, C.J., and LOTTINGER and FOIL, JJ.

LOTTINGER, Judge.

This is a succession proceeding in which collation is sought. From a judgment ordering defendants, John Roy Guerin, and his former wife, Sandra Fairchild Greene, to collate in kind a tract of land, as well as the fruits and revenues of the property, defendants individually appeal.

FACTS

This suit was brought by the Succession of Joseph H. Guerin against John Roy Guerin and Sandra Fairchild Greene, the former wife of John Roy Guerin. The suit seeks collation under La.Civ.Code art. 1248[1] of certain properties and their fruits and revenues that were transferred to John Roy Guerin in 1958 and 1971 during the existence of his marriage to Sandra Greene.

In 1958, the decedent transferred a 5.88 acre tract of land by act of sale to John Roy Guerin for a recited consideration of $800.00, but the trial court concluded no price was ever paid. In 1971, the decedent transferred the family farm to his son, John Roy Guerin, for $40,000.00, payable in monthly installments of $150.00 each, bearing five percent per annum interest from date of maturity. This latter transfer was represented by a promissory note.

TRIAL COURT

The instant suit is actually a sequel to a 1980 suit that attacked the 1971 transfer as a simulated sale or a donation in disguise. *1104 On appeal, this court declared the sale valid, but in a concurring opinion, one judge noted an action for collation might still lie. Guerin v. Guerin, 449 So.2d 1053 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 450 So.2d 960 (La. 1984).

In this second suit, wherein plaintiff seeks collation, the trial court found that both transfers were "advantages" per La. Civ.Code art. 1248, and thus subject to collation.

As to the 1971 sale, the trial court found that the transfer consisted of 89.89 acres (sometimes referred to as "larger tract") and that "a realistic" value of the property (excluding the house) at the time of the sale was $800.00 an acre or a total of $71,112.00. After deducting the value of the usufruct held by the surviving spouse, the court valued the house at $9,202.56, and the lot at $433.06. The total value assigned by the court came to $80,747.62. Inasmuch as $40,000.00 is less than half of the above-assigned fair market value, the court concluded the price was a "very low price" within the meaning of La.Civ.Code art. 1248, and was therefore an "advantage" subject to collation.

Following the trial, but before post-trial briefs were submitted and a decision rendered, defendant John Guerin renounced the succession. However, the trial court opined that defendant could not avoid collation by simply renouncing the succession. The court thereupon applied La.Civ.Code art. 1237, Paragraph 2[2], in holding that defendant would have to collate whatever was necessary to make up the legitimate portion of the other heirs. The trial court further concluded that the defendants must collate "in kind," reasoning that the phrase in La.Civ.Code art. 1248, "all that is subject to collation," refers to the antecedent noun, "thing," which, in this case, is the property.

As to the 5.88 acre tract, the court found that no price was ever paid for the property and that it was worth $2,724.38 at the time of the transfer in 1958. Inasmuch as the court found the 5.88 acre tract was partitioned and sold by defendants following their divorce, the sale was not a forced alienation under La.Civ.Code art. 1271[3]. The court thereupon applied La.Civ.Code art. 1270[4], and ordered that the property's value at the time of the opening of the succession, $10,878.00, be included in the calculation of the active mass of the succession.

The court rejected defendant Sandra Greene's argument that collation does not apply to a spouse or former spouse of an heir. Citing Heirs of Dupuy v. Dupont and Wife, 11 La.Ann. 226 (1856), the trial court held that "those who derive their interest from forced heirs by operation of law may be ordered to collate," and ordered the former wife to collate in kind enough of the "larger tract" necessary to form the rightful legitime of the forced heirs. (The larger tract is still owned in indivision by both the defendants.)

Additionally, the trial court held the fruits and revenues from the "larger tract" must also be collated in accordance with *1105 La.Civ.Code art. 1515.[5] Finding that demand was not made within one year of the date of death, the court ordered, pursuant to the above-cited article, that the revenues are due only from the date of demand. The revenues include: $5,949.67 for oil and gas leases as shown by a May 31, 1984 cash receipt from an escrow bank account, and $8,266.66 representing monies from agricultural leases from 1984 through 1986.

The trial court also rejected plaintiff's motion for a partial new trial. Plaintiff contended that La.Civ.Code art. 1515 does not apply to a collation suit; alternatively, if La.Civ.Code art. 1515 were found to apply to the present suit, plaintiff urged that the court failed to recognize that demand for collation was made when the first suit was filed, October 28, 1980. Assuming that demand was not made until May 29, 1984, plaintiff argued the court erred in not finding that more than $280,000.00 in mineral royalties allegedly distributed to defendants from the escrow account on June 11, 1984, should be collated.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Both defendants appeal.[6] Defendant John Roy Guerin alleges the trial court erred in finding that:

1) The sale to John Roy Guerin was for a "very low price" and therefore subject to collation; and

2) John Roy Guerin is obligated to collate in kind.

Defendant Sandra Greene asserts the trial court erred in finding that:

1) The undivided one-half interest of a third party in immovable property, purchased during the community of acquets and gains, is subject to collation;

2) The sale to John Roy Guerin and Sandra Fairchild Greene was for a "very low price;"

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
542 So. 2d 1102, 1989 WL 35235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-guerin-lactapp-1989.