William C. Slicker v. Phyllis A. Slicker

464 S.W.3d 850, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 5201, 2015 WL 2407814
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 21, 2015
Docket05-13-01762-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 464 S.W.3d 850 (William C. Slicker v. Phyllis A. Slicker) 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
William C. Slicker v. Phyllis A. Slicker, 464 S.W.3d 850, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 5201, 2015 WL 2407814 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by Chief Justice Wright

In this divorce proceeding, the trial court rendered a decree of divorce and signed findings of fact and conclusions of law after a bench trial. Appellant William C. Slicker (“Husband”) appeals the trial court’s judgment, contending that ’the trial court abused its' discretion in its rulings regarding division of the community estate, spousal maintenance, and monetary awards to appellee Phyllis A. Slicker (‘Wife”). Because the evidence supports *854 the trial.'court’s rulings, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

The parties were married on January 6, 1974, almost forty years before their divorce in 2013. They separated in 2011, and Wife filed a petition for divorce on September 7, 2011. In an amended petition filed in 2012, Wife sought a disproportionate share of the marital estate and alleged that Husband “has committed fraud on the community estate.” Wife also requested that “the Court reconstitute the community estate to its full value prior to [Husband’s] depletion of the community estate by his fraudulent acts” before dividing the estate in a just and right manner. 2 She alleged that Husband had engaged in constructive fraud and waste of assets, and that he had “left little or no community property” and had “squandered community assets” in “violation of [his] duty as co-manager of- the community estate” and in violation of the trial court’s standing order. Wife also sought spousal maintenance.

At trial before the court, each party offered fact and expert testimony regarding the community estate. Much of the evidence related to a trust created during the marriage in 1993 by Husband’s parents as grantors (“1993 Trust”). The 1993 Trust named Husband as the primary beneficiary and provided that, on Husband’s death, the principal and accrued but undistributed income of the 1993 Trust would be held in trust for the benefit of Wife. Each of Husband’s parents transferred 1712 shares of Cabe Land Co., Inc., an Arkansas corporation, to the 1993 Trust. Each parent also transferred a 2.08375% partnership interest in CLC Land Company, a general partnership, to the 1993 Trust. The trust instrument expressly provided that “the Trustee shall pay annually all of the net income of the estate” to Husband. The parties appear to agree that the net income paid from the 1993 Trust each year is community property. It also appears to be undisputed that the 1993 Trust no longer holds either the shares of Cabe Land Co., Inc. or the partnership interest in CLC Land Company. At the time of trial, according to Husband, the 1993 Trust held only five assets: (1) $7,926.49 in a money market fund; (2) a condominium valued at $125,916.45; (3) a 20% interest in a company called Cablein LLC, valued at $41,150; (4) a 4.2149% interest in Cabe Minerals valued at $1,698.18; and (5) an unvalued 5,086,5 shares in Cabe General. Husband contends that only Cabe Minerals generated any income.

Evidence offered at trial also showed that in the years before the parties’ separation and after, Husband withdrew large sums of money from the community estate. In 2005 and 2006, for example, Husband and Wife entered into “Investment Agency Agreements” with Bancorp South Bank (“Bancorp”), depositing assets into the investment fund created by the agreements (the “agency account”). The record includes a letter from Wife authorizing Ban-corp to. “accept investment decisions from my husband” regarding the. fund. The 2005 and 2006 tax ledgers for the agency account reflected that Husband withdrew over $800,000 from this fund during those years; -as Husband confirmed in his testimony at trial. ’ Wife testified that although she was aware .the agency account existed, she did not know the amounts in it. Hus *855 band did not discuss withdrawals from, the account with her, and she did not know of any assets that would have been purchased with the large amounts Husband withdrew.

The evidence also showed that between 2007 and 2012, Husband received distributions from the 1993 Trust in the amount of $991,525. Husband contends these distributions were of both income and principal. In his inventoiy and appraisement filed before trial, 3 Husband sought reimburse-' ment of the $991,525 in the divorce,.- describing the basis of the claim as “[p]ayment by Husband’s separate property of the unsecured liabilities of the community estate.” Husband did not, however, point to evidence showing either the nature and amounts of the unsecured liabilities or showing that the amount distributed to him was his separate property.

After the parties’ separation, Husband withdrew $66,000 from the Slicker Family Foundation, an entity created by Husband and Wife together in 2004. This amount was paid in “salary” to himself and the parties’ adult son John (age thirty-seven at the time of trial) between 2011 and 2013. . Husband also paid John’s credit card bills and rent during the pendency of the divorce proceedings.

Husband provided no evidence of his disposition of the $800,000 withdrawn from the agency account, the $991,525 distributed from the 1993 Trust, or the $66,000 withdrawn from the foundation. He pro-' vided no tracing of any assets he claimed as separate. When asked at trial about the disposition of the $800,000, he stated that he had “no idea” and “can’t recall” how he used the money, or a single asset he had purchased. Husband contends that all of the parties’ community property was used to “fund the parties’ lavish lifestyle.” The only evidence of this “lavish lifestyle,” however, was Husband’s testimony that “[f]or a number of years ... [w]e enjoyed traveling. ■ We went to, Europe and India and China and all over the United States and we entertained people, Mends' at restaurants and at our house. We spent a lot of money.” Husband testified that he and Wife could afford this lifestyle “through income from the Trust and later on through distributions, the principal.” Alr though Wife did not testify to the contrary, Husband points to nothing in the record reflecting when any trips were taken, how much any such trip cost, how much the parties spent in entertainment expenses, or how any travel or entertainment expenses were paid.

The record also showed that Husband frequently corresponded by e-mail with Bancorp, which was also the trustee of the 1993 Trust. Husband routinely requested distributions and submitted expenses to Ron Mills, a trust officer of Bancorp. Husband also kept Mills informed of transactions involving various Cabe entities, including proceeds of approximately $500,000 from sales of timber. The emails reflect creation of a limited liability company, Slicker Enterprises LLC, in 2006, and a transfer of approximately $40,000 into that company by deposit óf a check from a petroleum company. Husband corresponded with Mills about use of principal from the 1993 Trust instead of income for particular expenses. Husband also requested , the . recharacterization of income and principal in the 1993 Trust, and Mills testified at trial that he recalled doing so on at least one occasion in 2007, *856 as reflected on account statements of the 1993. Trust.

The evidence showed that assets normally purchased and held by a-community estate were instead purchased and held by the 1993 Trust.

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

Related

Henry Hutcherson III v. Tina Hutcherson
Tex. App. Ct., 3rd Dist. (Austin), 2026
Julio Cesar Galindo Mancha v. Lorena Campos Mancha
Tex. App. Ct., 11th Dist. (Eastland), 2026
Maribel Hill v. Dwight L. Hill
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2025
Toan Ly v. Hong Nguyen
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2025
Joseph Samuel McCreary, III v. Laura McCreary
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2024
Vivek Veagandula v. Sree Rekha Vedullapalli
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2024
Syed Kazmi v. Syeda Kazmi
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Roderick Mangum v. Sitonia Mangum
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Diana Xuan Tran v. Vinh Van Hoang
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Manish Mehta v. Hannah Mehta
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Michael L. Marin v. Jenifer L. Marin
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Paul E. Simons v. Karen Cole Simons
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
464 S.W.3d 850, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 5201, 2015 WL 2407814, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/william-c-slicker-v-phyllis-a-slicker-texapp-2015.