Tyson v. Tyson

68 Pa. D. & C.2d 627, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 197
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Chester County
DecidedMarch 12, 1974
Docketno. 2492 of 1972
StatusPublished

This text of 68 Pa. D. & C.2d 627 (Tyson v. Tyson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Chester County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tyson v. Tyson, 68 Pa. D. & C.2d 627, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 197 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1974).

Opinion

KURTZ, P. J.,

Plaintiff in this action, who is the wife of defendant, filed her complaint in equity in October of 1972, alleging that she and her husband were the owners as tenants by the entireties of a certain checking account at the ContinentalBank, and that on or about March 21,1972, the husband withdrew the funds from that account and appropriated those funds to his own use and benefit. She sought an accounting from the husband as well as a partition of the fund.

[628]*628In due course defendant filed an answer to plaintiffs complaint with new matter. The answer admitted the husband’s withdrawal of the funds but denied her entitlement to any share of them. Under the heading of new matter defendant averred that the fund in question was a business account and as such was the property of the husband only. By way of counterclaim, he averred that the parties also owned a savings account as tenants by the entireties at the same bank, and that in mid-March 1972 the wife had withdrawn the funds from that account, converting them to her use. He averred also that they were the joint owners of two tracts of real estate as well as an automobile, and asserted that the wife had taken exclusive possession of the real estate to the husband’s detriment, as a result of which he sought the partition of those tracts. He offered to partition the automobile and sought a decree to that effect in this action.

Plaintiffs reply to defendant’s new matter asserted that the wife had used the funds from the savings account for her own maintenance and for the maintenance of the family. In her answer to the counterclaim, she sought the dismissal of that claim, averring that the husband had not been excluded from the enjoyment of those premises.

The matter came on for hearing before Honorable Ralph W. Kent on February 20, 1973. Judge Kent’s term of office expired on the first Monday of January 1974, at which time an adjudication had not been filed. Thereafter, the matter was assigned to the writer of this adjudication who contacted counsel and, upon the request of defense counsel, fixed an argument on said matter for February 25, 1974. That argument had to be postponed due to the inclement weather which prevailed on that date, as [629]*629a result of which argument was heard on March 4, 1974.

Plaintiff contends that she is entitled to have the checking account originally sued upon partitioned and that our inquiry in this case should not involve property other than that account. Defendant contends that since he has shown that entireties’ properties have been invaded by one or the other of the spouses that either party is entitled to have all such property presently owned by the parties partitioned. He seeks a decree to that effect.

In order for us to properly evaluate these contentions we will find facts as follows.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The parties to this action are husband and wife, having been married May 14, 1949. During the year 1961, they opened a joint checkingaccount from which each possessed the right to withdraw funds. The funds on deposit in that account were derived from the husband’s business and were used in the operation of that business. In addition, the wife, who acted as the husband’s bookkeeper from time to time, withdrew funds regularly from that account for use in the operation and maintenance of their home and family.

2. On or about March 21, 1972, the husband withdrew $5,000. from that account, and thereafter on April 14, 1972, withdrew the balance of $390.44. The funds thus obtained by the husband were used in his business.

3. At some time not definitely indicated by the record, plaintiff and defendant opened a joint savings account at the same bank. In March or April of 1972, at or about the time when the husband removed from the parties’ domicile, the wife with[630]*630drew $1,100., representing all of the money then on deposit in that account. This money was thereafter deposited in an account opened by the wife only and from it she made withdrawals for the maintenance of herself and her son and for the employment of counsel in connection with these proceedings and a divorce proceeding pending between the parties.

4. In 1951 the parties purchased a lot of land designated 79 Hill Church Road, Spring City, Pa., their ownership being as tenants by the entireties. Thereafter, a house was constructed upon that land which was occupied by the parties until the husband removed therefrom on or about March 9, 1972. The wife and the parties’ teen-age son have continued to reside upon that property without paying rent therefor.

5. In late 1971 or early 1972 plaintiff and defendant purchased an apartment house at 173 Broad Street, Spring City, Pa. This property consists of three rental units. Since the separation of the parties, the wife has collected the rentals from these units and has deposited the funds thus obtained in a separate account from which she has made mortgage payments and paid taxes, utility charges and other like expenses, with the result that, as of the date of the hearing, there was a balance of approximately $300. in that account. From time to time the husband does repair and maintenance work on this property without being paid therefor in cash.

6. The parties are also the joint owners of a 1967 Dodge Charger automobile. This automobile has a value of about $1,200., and is presently in the control of the husband, who obtained it sometime in the fall of 1972 by taking it from the wife, who had been using it theretofore.

[631]*6317. Upon the separation of the parties, the husband paid to the wife the sum of $40. per week for a period of about two months, after which the husband stopped making any payments to the wife for approximately six weeks. Thereafter the husband resumed payments for the benefit of his wife and son at the rate of $85. per week, under the direction of a court order which the wife obtained, which order is still in effect.

DISCUSSION

As we have indicated above, the principal issue raised by these parties calls for a decision as to whether all of their jointly-owned property, both real and personal, tangible and intangible, or only a part thereof — their bank accounts — are to be partitioned in this proceeding. Defendant, who contends for complete partition, relies upon the case of Shapiro v. Shapiro, 424 Pa. 120 (1966), as the authority which requires that result. Particularly he relies upon the following quotations from the opinion of the court in that case appearing at pages 137 and 138 respectively: “. . . where husband and wife are separated but not divorced and where one of them is excluded from the exercise or enjoyment of rights inherent in an estate held by the entireties, an accounting of the property so held may be ordered and the property or proceeds divided equally betweeii them.” Also: “Even if the wife had established abuse by the husband to only one of the entireties’ properties she still would be entitled to a partition of the several properties. She need not wait till [sic] all of the properties be dissipated: Watkins v. Watkins, 393 Pa. 284, 286, 142 A. 2d 6 (1958).”

On the other hand, plaintiff would limit our de[632]

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Related

Shapiro v. Shapiro
224 A.2d 164 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1966)
Watkins v. Watkins
142 A.2d 6 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1958)
Berhalter v. Berhalter
173 A. 172 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1934)

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Bluebook (online)
68 Pa. D. & C.2d 627, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tyson-v-tyson-pactcomplcheste-1974.