Towne v. Towne

707 S.W.2d 745, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 12902
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 30, 1986
DocketNo. 2-85-145-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 707 S.W.2d 745 (Towne v. Towne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Towne v. Towne, 707 S.W.2d 745, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 12902 (Tex. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

OPINION

FENDER, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from the judgment of the trial court imposing a constructive trust for the benefit of appellee, Minnie Towne. The court, sitting without a jury, held that due to the fraudulent conduct of the deceased, Edwin Towne, the sum of $8,831.98 with interest should be awarded to appellee.

We affirm.

Prior to the death of Edwin Towne, the Veterans Administration issued to him one National Service Life Insurance policy identified as number RH1681 67 25. The Veterans Administration was to pay the proceeds of the above policy to the named beneficiary upon receipt of proof of death of its insured so long as the policy was in full force and effect. At the time of Edwin Towne’s death, appellant was the named beneficiary of said policy.

On or about November 3, 1980, Edwin Towne was divorced from appellee, Minnie Towne, in the 89th District Court of Wichita County, Texas. During the marriage between Edwin and appellee, Edwin had named appellee as the primary beneficiary under that VA Government Life Insurance policy. Pursuant to an agreement incident to their divorce, it was agreed between Edwin and appellee that appellee should own that VA Life Insurance policy as part of the fair and just division of the property of the parties. However, on September 4, 1980, two months before he entered into the property settlement agreement, Edwin Towne had changed the designation of beneficiary from appellee to appellant. He did not disclose this fact to appellée or to the divorce court which approved the agreement incident to divorce. Edwin Towne died on December 27, 1982. The Veterans Administration paid the named beneficiary, appellant, $8,831.98 which was the face value of the VA Life Insurance policy less an outstanding loan.

In the judgment of the trial court it was decreed that:

In that Mr. Towne committed the fraudulent behavior described above pri- or the [sic] execution of the property settlement agreement with [appellee] and prior to the signing of the divorce decree by the Court and in that [appellee] has plead and proved fraud or breach of trust, it is the opinion of this Court that [appellee] should have and is given judgment in the face amount of the insurance policy, less any charges against said policy....

Both parties agree that by virtue of this judgment, the trial court held that the legal title to the proceeds of the insurance vested in appellant, but that these proceeds were impressed with the constructive trust in favor of appellee resulting from the provisions of the divorce decree.

In her first point of error appellant contends that the trial court erred in entering its judgment in favor of appellee because the creation of a constructive trust was not the intent of Congress when Congress spoke “with force and clarity” in passing the Federal Statute, 38 U.S.C.S. sec. 3101. This statute, in relevant part, states that:

(a) Payments of benefits due or to become due under any law administered by the Veterans’ Administration shall not be assignable except to the extent specifically authorized by law, and such payments made to, or on account of, a beneficiary shall be exempt from taxation, shall be exempt from the claim of creditors, and shall not be liable to attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable process whatever, either before or after receipt by the beneficiary.

Appellant contends that the property settlement agreement which purported to restrict the right of Edwin Towne to change [747]*747the name of the beneficiary at any time is void under 38 U.S.C.S. 3101. Appellant contends that the case of Ridgway v. Ridgway, 454 U.S. 46, 102 S.Ct. 49, 70 L.Ed.2d 39 (1981) supports their contention that Edwin Towne was entitled to change the beneficiary designation at any time. In Ridg-way, the Supreme Court reversed the imposition of a constructive trust of the proceeds of a Serviceman’s Group Life Insurance Policy by the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine. Richard Ridgway, a career sergeant in the U.S. army, obtained a divorce from his wife, April, and the Maine state court divorce judgment ordered the serviceman, among other things, to keep in force the insurance policies then outstanding for the benefit of the couple’s three children. At the time, Richard’s life was insured under a policy pursuant to the Serviceman’s Group Life Insurance Act of 1965. Subsequently, Richard remarried and changed the policy beneficiary designation to direct that the proceeds be paid as specified “by law,” which meant that under the act, they would be paid to his second wife as his widow. Following his death and after both wives had filed a claim for the proceeds, the first wife instituted a suit against the insurance company seeking, as legal representative of three minor children, both to enjoin the payment of the policy proceeds to the second wife and to obtain a declaratory judgment that those proceeds were payable to the children. The second wife joined the litigation and was aligned as the plaintiff asserting a claim to the proceeds and the first wife then filed a cross claim against the second wife, praying for the imposition of a constructive trust for the benefit of the children on any policy proceeds payable to the second wife. The first wife did not allege any fraud on the part of Richard. The trial court rejected the first wife’s claim, believing that although the terms of the judgment of the divorce and the beneficiary designation were inconsistent, the imposition of a constructive trust would interfere with the operation of the Federal Act and that such disposition would run afoul of the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution. On appeal, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine vacated the dismissal of the first wife’s cross claim and remanded the case with directions to enter an order naming the first wife as constructive trustee of the policy proceeds. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and held that a serviceman’s beneficiary designation under a life insurance policy issued pursuant to the act prevailed over the constructive trust and that the imposition of a constructive trust was inconsistent with the provision of the act which states that the payments “should not be liable to attachment, levy, or seizure, by or under any legal or equitable process whatever, either before or after receipt of the beneficiary.”

Although the insurance policy issued under Ridgway was pursuant to 38 U.S.C.S. sec. 765, and the policy issued in this case was issued under 38 U.S.C.S. 3101, the operative language pertaining to attachment is the same. Therefore, we find that the Ridgway case is on point.

In Ridgway, the U.S. Supreme Court discussed the doctrines of fraud and constructive trusts as follows:

Yiatchos v. Yiatchos, 376 U.S. 306, 84 S.Ct. 742, 11 L.Ed.2d 724 (1964), relied on by the respondents, but not cited by the Maine court, does not stand to the contrary. In Yiatchos, the Court considered a question left open in Free v. Bland, 369 U.S. [663], at 670-671, 82 S.Ct. [1089], at 1094 [8 L.Ed.2d 180 (1962)], namely, the “scope and application” of the doctrine of fraud as an exception “to the regulatory imperative.” 376 U.S., at 307, 84 S.Ct., at 744.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
707 S.W.2d 745, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 12902, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/towne-v-towne-texapp-1986.