Wilder v. Wilder

291 P.2d 79, 138 Cal. App. 2d 152, 1955 Cal. App. LEXIS 1296
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 1955
DocketCiv. 16586
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 291 P.2d 79 (Wilder v. Wilder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilder v. Wilder, 291 P.2d 79, 138 Cal. App. 2d 152, 1955 Cal. App. LEXIS 1296 (Cal. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

KAUFMAN, J.

This is an appeal from a declaratory judgment which determined the right of the parties under a property settlement agreement. The parties herein, Miriam P. Wilder, plaintiff, and respondent, and Asa V. Wilder, defendant and appellant, have been divorced, but this contract was drawn up to settle their rights in community property, and was not a part of the interlocutory divorce decree which was entered on March 20, 1953.

The agreement was entered into on February 11, 1953, and opened with the statement that “Whereas said parties are now and . . . have been husband and wife, and whereas it is the intention and desire of the parties hereto to settle and determine as between themselves all property rights that either has or may have against the other or in the property of either or in the community property of both.” It was then agreed that sufficient stocks and securities owned by the *154 parties should be sold and the proceeds applied to the payment of certain bills and obligations, which were specifically set forth, and that shares of stock in the I. X. L. Mining Corporation/Bank of America N. T. & S. A. and International Business Machine Company be sold at the market price within 30 days. If the proceeds from the sale of these stocks provided insufficient funds to meet the obligations set forth in the agreement, then a sufficient number of shares of Pacific Vegetable Oil Corporation stock were to be sold to produce the additional amount necessary. The agreement shows that the number of shares of Pacific Vegetable Oil owned by the parties was 2662. Taxes on real property in Nevada County were listed as one of the items to be paid, as well as Nevada Irrigation District water assessments and taxes then owing and unpaid. Income taxes were nowhere mentioned in the document.

Defendant and appellant in his answer set forth an accounting of the sales of stocks which brought total proceeds of $44,424.26 within the 30-day period provided for in the agreement. In this total was included $1,053.65, the proceeds from the sale of 62 shares of Pacific Vegetable Oil Company stock. Disbursements were set forth, showing that all bills and obligations listed in the agreement had been paid. Half the disbursements were subtracted from half the gross proceeds, leaving a balance of the surplus due respondent of $2,985.71. Out of this appellant paid $887.69, for Mrs. Wilder’s 1952 income tax to the federal government and $75.44 for the state income tax. He paid her $2,000 as a partial distribution, and at the time answer was filed sent her a cheek for the balance of $22.58.

The record shows that the sales of stock were as set forth by appellant in his answer, and the trial judge found that the proceeds from the sale of said stocks was $44,424.26, from which appellant paid the amounts set forth, and also found that all of said items which had been listed in the property settlement agreement were authorized payments.

The trial judge found that only $87.11 of the sum of $741.10 interest paid on a note to the Bank of California was properly paid. Because of the income tax items which were paid for Mrs. Wilder on her half of the community income were paid by appellant in March after the effective date of this agreement and were not authorized by her, the trial court regarded it as a volunteer payment which could not be charged to her half of the surplus. The court found that *155 authorized deductions amounted to $37,798.85, which taken from the sum of $44,424.26, left a balance of $6,625.41 of which half, or $3,312.70 was respondent’s share of the surplus. It was further found that appellant had paid to respondent $2,022.58 of this amount, and that the balance still owing and unpaid was $1,290.12. The sum of $1,290.12 was the sum of $963.13 for state and federal income taxes plus $326.99, one half of the unauthorized interest paid.

It was alleged that appellant had failed to deliver to respondent 1331 shares of Pacific Vegetable Oil Company stock, one half of the 2,662 shares owned by the parties as community property. The record shows that appellant had offered respondent 1,300 shares of the aforesaid stock which she refused to accept, claiming 1,331 shares. During trial the 1,300 shares were delivered to her, and the court found that she was entitled to receive an additional 31 shares which appellant had failed to deliver, that the value per share was $17 or a total of $527. Judgment was therefore rendered against appellant for the sum of $1,290.12, and he was ordered to deliver to respondent 31 shares of Pacific Vegetable Oil Corporation stock, and if such stock could not be had, to pay the value thereof, the sum of $527.

The 62 shares of Pacific Vegetable Oil stock, one half of which were respondent’s, had been sold by appellant, and were part of the total of $44,424.26 proceeds, out of which he had paid the bills itemized in the agreement.

It is well established by the evidence in the record that the sale of the 62 shares of Pacific Vegetable Oil Company stock was unauthorized, since the sale of the Bank of America and I. B. M. stock which were first authorized to be sold brought in $15,935.58 and $27,270.35, respectively. Two lots of I. X. L. stock were also sold for $98.94 and $65.74. The total of these sales was $43,370.61, more than sufficient to meet all bills to be paid under the property settlement agreement. It was even more than sufficient to cover the interest item and income tax payments which were disallowed. Therefore, Mrs. Wilder was entitled to have 1331 shares of Pacific Vegetable Oil stock instead of the 1,300 shares which had been tendered to her. However, the proceeds of the sale of the 62 shares of this stock, not having been used in the payment of bills, was fully accounted for by appellant. He remitted to Mrs. Wilder checks for $2,000 and $22.58, both of which she cashed. This sum is in part made up of one half of $1,053.65, the proceeds of the sale of 62 shares of *156 Pacific Vegetable Oil stock which was sold on March 3, 1953 at $17 per share. Respondent has therefore once received the value of her 31 shares of stock. She had the right, of course, to have received the stock certificates instead of money. The judgment herein decrees that appellant deliver to her 31 shares of this stock, or if it cannot be had, then the value thereof of $527 plus interest from March 11, 1953. The court found the value of the stock to be $17 per share, which is exactly the value at which appellant sold it, and which he paid over to respondent. She has unquestionably once received the full value of the stock. No doubt if it is possible now for appellant to convert this money back into 31 shares of stock, it is possible for respondent to do so. It is not a unique stock, and she has received and accepted its full value as calculated at the date of judgment.

Respondent attempts to justify this part of the judgment by arguing that there is a conflict in the evidence, but points to no evidence that will support the finding that the total of $44,424.26 is made up of the sales of the other stocks without the 62 shares of Pacific Vegetable Oil. The trial judge only found the denials in the appellant’s answer untrue. Nothing is said about his affirmative allegations in which he sets forth his accounting in paragraph 4 of the answer. Respondent called the witness Schiefer, vice president of the Bank of California, under section 2055, Code of Civil Procedure.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Lagoe v. Granite Bay Motorcycle Partners CA3
California Court of Appeal, 2025
National Insurance Underwriters v. Carter
551 P.2d 362 (California Supreme Court, 1976)
Sanserino v. Shamberger
245 Cal. App. 2d 630 (California Court of Appeal, 1966)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
291 P.2d 79, 138 Cal. App. 2d 152, 1955 Cal. App. LEXIS 1296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilder-v-wilder-calctapp-1955.