Succession of Love

201 So. 3d 1027, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 245, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1770
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 28, 2016
Docket16-245
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 201 So. 3d 1027 (Succession of Love) 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 Love, 201 So. 3d 1027, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 245, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1770 (La. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge.

hThe Succession of James Oliver Love, represented by his brother, Manor Love Sr., appeals a judgment in favor of the decedent’s spouse, Rebecca Love, finding that two deposit accounts at Capital One Bank were the subjects of valid donations inter vivos by James Love to Rebecca Love. Finding no manifest error in the trial court’s judgment, we affirm.

[1029]*1029I.

ISSUES

We must decide:

(1) whether the trial court manifestly erred in granting a new trial and finding that the facts supported an inter vivos donation of insurance proceeds by the decedent to his spouse; and

(2) whether the trial court erred as a matter of law in finding an inter vivos donation of insurance proceeds by the decedent to his spouse.

II.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

James Oliver Love owned a house in St. Landry Parish. He had no children. James began dating Rebecca Tisdale Love. Rebecca owned a home in Rapides Parish. James and Rebecca resided together in Rebecca’s home for the last four and a half years of James’s life, but they did not legally marry until- June of 2012, after a series of life-changing events leading to James’s death in August 2012.

lain April 2012 James went to check on his house in Opelousas, and an unknown gas leak caused an explosive fire, injuring James and destroying his house. In May 2012 James was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only a short time to live. At the end of May, James received approximately $130,000.00 in insurance proceeds which he deposited in a savings account and a checking account with Capital One Bank. James spent his last two months setting his affairs in order.

In June of 2012, James married Rebecca, and the couple went to the bank to sign signature cards, making the Capital One accounts joint accounts. James hired a driver to help him deliver items he owned, such as his tools, to people he wished to have them. On July 2, 2012, James and Rebecca, and James’s brother, Manor Love Sr., went to attorney Bruce Gaudin to take care of James’s remaining assets. At his brother’s request, James left his immovable property to his nephew, Manor Love Jr., by executing a donation inter vivos in. the nephew’s favor.1 The act of donation gave two lots in St. Landry Parish to Manor Love Jr., but it reserved to James any claim that he might have against Evangeline. Gas Company for the fire that had destroyed his house.

Also on July 2, 2012, James executed an unlimited power of attorney in favor of Rebecca, giving her full authority, without reservation, to conduct all of his affairs. The rights and powers granted included acting for him judicially, making and receiving donations, withdrawing funds from any and all accounts, and donating or pledging any property right owned or to be acquired by him, whether it be movable, immovable, corporeal, or incorporeal. James told Rebecca that he wanted her to have the funds in the joint accounts, and to pay all community debts |sand separate debts, including the balance on the mortgage on her home where they resided together. He wanted her to be debt free before he died. He expressed his wishes to others that he did not want her to have to go through a succession to get the funds. Rebecca began to carry out his wishes but had not completed the transactions when James died. Rebecca cared for James until he died on August 3, 2012, in Rebecca’s home, in a hospital bed in the couple’s bedroom.

Nine years earlier, in 2003, unbeknownst to Rebecca, James had executed a brief one-page will. The will left two household [1030]*1030items to one individual and left the remainder of his estate to his brother, Manor Love Sr. The will also designated Manor Love Sr. as the executor of James’s estate.

Several months after James’s death, Manor Love, Sr. (the Succession) filed a petition to have Rebecca return the funds that she withdrew from the joint accounts. Initially, the trial court found in favor of the Succession, ordering Rebecca to return $91,527.55 of the $129,047,94 deposited in the accounts. Rebecca’s motion for a new trial was granted, resulting in a judgment in her favor, and dismissing the claims of the Succession. It is from this judgment that the Succession appeals.

III.

STANDARDS OF REVIEW

Donative intent is a factual issue subject to the manifest error standard of review. Rose v. Johnson, 06-518 (La.App. 3 Cir. 9/27/06), 940 So.2d 181, writ denied, 06-2528 (La. 12/15/06), 944 So.2d 1273. Thus, a trial court’s finding on this issue cannot be reversed unless an appellate court, after review of the entire record, finds both that no reasonable factual basis exists for the finding and that it |4is manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. See Sto-bart v. State, Through DOTD, 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993). In applying this standard, a trial court’s credibility determinations are entitled to great deference. Hebert v. Rap-ides Parish Police Jury, 06-2001 (La. 4/11/07), 974 So.2d 635 (on rehearing). The reviewing court must keep in mind that if a trial court’s findings are reasonable based upon the entire record and evidence, an appellate court may not reverse even if it is convinced that had it been sitting as trier of fact it would have weighed the evidence differently. Housley v. Cerise, 579 So.2d 973 (La.1991). This principle is grounded not only upon the better capacity of the trial court to evaluate live witnesses, but also upon the proper allocation of trial and appellate functions between the respective courts. Canter v. Koehring Co., 283 So.2d 716 (La.1973). Statutory interpretation is subject to a de novo review on appeal. Harrah’s Bossier City Inv. Co., LLC v. Bridges, 09-1916 (La. 5/11/10), 41 So.3d 438.

IV.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

The Succession contends that the trial court erred in granting Rebecca a new trial and then in finding that James completed a valid donation inter vivos to Rebecca of the insurance proceeds that he had placed in joint accounts bearing both his name and Rebecca’s name. The crux of the Succession’s argument turns on .the fact that James did not execute an authentic act entitled “donation inter vivos” in conjunction with the other written acts concerning the funds in the joint accounts in the weeks before his death. We find that James did complete a valid donation inter vivos to Rebecca.

|fi“A donation inter vivos is a contract by which a person, called the donor, gratuitously divests himself, at present and irrevocably, of the thing given in favor of another, called the donee, who accepts it.” La.Civ.Code art.' 1468. “Every donation made .. .■ by a married person to his or her spouse shall be as irrevocable as if made to a stranger.” La.Civ.Code art. 2351. “A donation inter vivos is without effect until it is accepted by the donee. The acceptance shall be made during the lifetime of the donor.” La.Civ.Code art. 1544. “The acceptance of a donation may be made in the act of donation or subsequently in writing.” Id. “When the donee is put into corporeal possession of a movable by the donor, possession by the donee also constitutes acceptance of the donation.” Id, [1031]

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Bluebook (online)
201 So. 3d 1027, 16 La.App. 3 Cir. 245, 2016 La. App. LEXIS 1770, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-love-lactapp-2016.