Succession of LeBlanc

577 So. 2d 105, 1991 WL 8839
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 14, 1991
Docket90-CA-0553
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 577 So. 2d 105 (Succession of LeBlanc) 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 LeBlanc, 577 So. 2d 105, 1991 WL 8839 (La. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

577 So.2d 105 (1991)

SUCCESSION OF Charles J. LeBLANC.

No. 90-CA-0553.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

January 31, 1991.
Amended on Rehearing March 14, 1991.

*106 Frank Sloan, Covington, for appellant.

Jacob Kansas, New Orleans, for appellees.

Before GARRISON, LOBRANO and BECKER, JJ.

BECKER, Judge.

The decedent, Charles J. LeBlanc, died intestate on November 22, 1982. His surviving spouse, Lillian LeBlanc, was qualified as administratrix of the succession. Mr. LeBlanc had been married once before to Alder Polk LeBlanc, of which marriage one daughter, Patricia LeBlanc Turbington, was born.

While still married to Alder Polk LeBlanc, Mr. LeBlanc purchased real estate located at 3200-02 Toulouse Street with Lillian LeBlanc in 1971. Although not married, they purchased the property as husband and wife. After purchasing the house, the decedent and Lillian LeBlanc moved into the house together. Approximately one year later, Lillian LeBlanc moved out. Lillian LeBlanc moved back into the house in 1979. During the interim, Mr. LeBlanc resided in the house with a female companion. The decedent finally obtained a divorce from Alder Polk LeBlanc on December 5, 1978. He and Lillian LeBlanc were married on February 13, 1979.

Before he died, Mr. LeBlanc collected over fourteen thousand dollars in retirement benefits from Social Security. These monies were obtained fraudulently as Mr. LeBlanc was working fulltime while receiving the retirement benefits. The Social Security Administration has filed a claim against the succession to recover these funds.

The property on Toulouse Street was sold in August of 1985 pursuant to a joint motion and court order. The funds from the sale were placed in an interest bearing account where they remain to date.

In September of 1983, Patricia LeBlanc Turbington and Alder Polk LeBlanc moved to traverse the Detailed Descriptive List and List of Debts filed by Lillian LeBlanc as administratrix. Movers argued that (1) the house purchased by Mr. LeBlanc and Lillian LeBlanc belonged entirely to the separate estate of Charles LeBlanc; (2) the separate estate of Charles J. LeBlanc was entitled to a credit from mortgage payments made during a period in the mid-1970's in which Lillian LeBlanc did not reside with Mr. LeBlanc in the house; (3) the debt owed to the Social Security Administration was a community rather than separate debt; (4) the proceeds of a mortgage life insurance policy should have been credited to the separate estate of Charles J. LeBlanc; (5) Lillian LeBlanc was not entitled to credit for mortgage and car loan payments made after decedent's death; and (6) questioned whether certain movables were community or separate in nature.

After a hearing on the motion, the trial court found that Lillian LeBlanc was the *107 owner of one-half interest in the property on Toulouse Street; that Alder Polk LeBlanc and Patricia Turbington LeBlanc were each one-fourth owners of the property; that no reimbursement of mortgage payments was owed by Lillian LeBlanc to the succession; that the claim of the Social Security Administration was a community debt; that the insurance proceeds from the mortgage life insurance policy inured to the benefit of the succession alone; and that Lillian LeBlanc was entitled to a usufruct over the automobile and other movables which formed part of the community.

Lillian LeBlanc has appealed the judgment of the trial court, arguing that the trial court erred in (1) crediting the proceeds of the life insurance policy to the separate property of the decedent rather than the community; (2) failing to find that Lillian LeBlanc is entitled to reimbursement for one half of all mortgage and car loan payments made from the date of decedent's death; and (3) holding that the claim of the Social Security Administration is a community rather than a separate debt.

Alder Polk LeBlanc and Patricia LeBlanc Turbington have answered the appeal contending that the trial court erred in (1) accepting the authentic act of acquisition in recognizing Lillian LeBlanc and Charles J. LeBlanc as co-purchasers and refusing to allow a collateral attack of the document, the status of the parties, and the nature of their interests; (2) recognizing Lillian LeBlanc as a one-half owner in the property on Toulouse Street; and (3) failing to charge the entire Social Security claim to Lillian LeBlanc. They also contend that assuming that Lillian LeBlanc is an one-half owner in the property in question, the trial court failed to recognize the succession's claim against Lillian LeBlanc for one-half of all mortgage and insurance payments made by Charles LeBlanc and not reimbursed by Lillian LeBlanc.

The property at 3200-02 Toulouse Street was purchased by Charles LeBlanc and Lillian LeBlanc in 1971. Both signed the act of sale as co-purchasers, and represented themselves to the notary as husband and wife. The act of sale was confected in authentic form. The law is clear that an authentic act is full proof of the agreement contained therein and cannot be attacked by parol evidence in the absence of allegations and proof of fraud, error, a counter-letter, interrogatories or admissions of fact. Morrison v. Richards, 343 So.2d 375 (La.App. 4th Cir.1977), writ denied, 345 So.2d 503 (La.1977); Weysham v. Aiavolasiti, 227 So.2d 798 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1969). Prior cases have allowed the introduction of parol evidence only for the limited purpose of determining the respective interests of co-vendees listed in the authentic act, when such act is silent as to that issue. See Oxford v. Barrow, 43 La.Ann. 863, 9 So. 479 (1891); Manning v. Harrell, 59 So.2d 389 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1952); and Succession of Washington, 140 So.2d 906 (La.App. 4th Cir.1962).

In such instances where property is acquired by several vendees and their specific shares are not stipulated in the act of conveyance, a presumption arises that such interests shall be considered equal. The presumption is rebuttable to the extent that the court will decree ownership in proportion to the amount and consideration contributed by each of the vendees. Manning v. Harrell, supra.

In the present case, the trial court found that Charles LeBlanc and Lillian LeBlanc each had a one-half interest in the property. The court further found that at the time of acquisition of the property, Charles LeBlanc was married to Alder Polk LeBlanc, and although physically separated, not legally separated. Under the legal regime of community of acquets and gains, there is a legal presumption that Charles LeBlanc's one-half interest formed part of the community between Charles LeBlanc and Alder Polk LeBlanc. The trial court was correct in dividing this one-half interest evenly between the heir of Charles LeBlanc, Patricia LeBlanc Turbington, and Alder Polk LeBlanc as there was no evidence offered to disprove the presumption.

Appellees, Alder Polk LeBlanc and Patricia LeBlanc Turbington argue that the trial court should have found that the entire property was owned exclusively by Charles *108 LeBlanc. They contend that the decedent and Lillian LeBlanc were involved in a paramour-concubine relationship prior to the purchase of the property, and that Lillian LeBlanc did not contribute any of her funds to buy the house. They allege that Lillian LeBlanc's interest in the property was a result solely of the paramour-concubine relationship. However, there was no testimony at trial that such a relationship existed prior to the purchase of the subject property.

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Bluebook (online)
577 So. 2d 105, 1991 WL 8839, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-leblanc-lactapp-1991.