Winkle v. Winkle

951 S.W.2d 80, 1997 WL 313150
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 7, 1997
Docket13-95-089-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 951 S.W.2d 80 (Winkle v. Winkle) 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
Winkle v. Winkle, 951 S.W.2d 80, 1997 WL 313150 (Tex. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

*83 OPINION

YANEZ, Justice.

This is an appeal from a reformed final decree of divorce. By seventeen points of error, appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for the finding of fact that he made false and misleading statements to federal investigators regarding the operations of a community corporation, the order to indemnify appellee for any personal liability she may be found to have as a result of a federal investigation into the corporation, the securing of this indemnification through a hen against appellant’s separate property, the characterization of a homestead as community property, the securing of reimbursement owed to the community estate through hens against appehant’s separate property and against the community property awarded him, the order that he sign a promissory note to secure a money judgment for appellee, the order that he keep appellee on his medical insurance plan temporarily, and the overall property division. Appehant seeks a new division of the marital estate or, in the alternative, a reformed divorce decree. We reverse and remand for a new division of the marital estate and reform the insurance coverage stipulation of the decree.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

James W. Winkle, appehant, and Frances M. Winkle, appellee, were married on May 10, 1975. Appehant holds a pharmacy degree and has owned his own pharmacy corporation since 1968. Prior to marrying appel-lee, appehant had been married three times to two different women. Appehee is a high school graduate and a baton twirling instructor. The couple had no children during their marriage. The day before they married, ap-pehant and appehee signed a promissory note to construct an edifice in which to house appellee's baton twirling business on a lot she owned at 328 Saturn in Corpus Christi, Texas. Shortly after the business was established, appehant and appehee established a trophy shop adjacent to it. Once married, appehant and appehee initially resided in a house at 104 Shore Drive in Portland, Texas, which was appehant’s separate property. At this time, appehant owned a corporation by the name of Prescription Center, Inc., organized in 1972, which initially ran four pharmacies. Early in the marriage, he reduced the number of pharmacies in the corporation to one. From the early 1980s through the early 1990s, appehant’s salary from his pharmacy corporation steadily declined, while revenues to the corporation from rental properties acquired by the corporation steadily increased.

In 1977, the couple moved from 104 Shore Drive into another house, with plans to design and build another home for themselves in the future. The couple eventuahy contracted for the sale of the home at 104 Shore Drive, contingent on a minimum price and on their ability to purchase a vacant lot at 904 Waterview. The couple expended $1250 in community funds as a down payment on the lot at 904 Waterview. When the sale of the home at 104 Shore closed in late 1977, $23,-750 from the sale was applied by the title company directly to the balance due on the lot at 904 Waterview. Appellant then paid for much of the construction of the home on this lot from his separate estate.

While at an international twirling event in Japan in 1982, appellee and an associate, Jackie Stewart, were impressed by a Japanese athletic shoe. Appellant, appellee, and associates Mike Stewart and Jackie Stewart, a married couple, then began investigating the possibility of commercially importing this shoe into the United States. A.B.C. Trading Company in Japan was hired to facilitate the exportation of these shoes. On November 3, 1983, they established In-Step International, Inc. (hereinafter “In-Step”) for the purpose of importing and selling the shoes. Appellant served as incorporator; appellant, appellee, the Stewarts, and Alan Kramer constituted the corporation’s initial board of directors. By agreement, the Stewarts, residents of Indiana, were to run the northern division of the corporation, while appellant and appellee were to run its southern division. Mr. Stewart served as the initial president of the corporation, and his tenure lasted ten years. Appellant served as treasurer of the corporation for ten years. In July of 1992, the Stewarts resigned as officers of the corporation. In *84 October of 1992, appellee purchased from the Stewarts 2100 shares of stock in InStep, using funds from her separate estate. In consideration of this change in ownership, appellant became the corporation’s president and appellee became its secretary/treasurer, effective October 13,1992.

Appellant and appellee separated in late October of 1992. On January 11, 1993, a district court issued temporary orders by agreement of the parties. For the pendency of the divorce, the court ordered that appel-lee would have sole and exclusive authority over the corporate affairs of In-Step International, and enjoined appellant from interfering in any way with appellee’s exclusive control over the corporation. Following their separation, appellee learned that appellant had been having an adulterous relationship over the past several years. In August of 1993, appellee began having a sexual relationship with one of the attorneys hired to represent her in the divorce proceedings. In October of 1993, appellant resigned as both the president of and registered agent for InStep. In April of 1993, in relation to a separate business activity, Mike Stewart, the former shareholder of In-Step International, was charged with mail fraud and was imprisoned for the offense. In late 1993, appellant hired attorney Robert Berg to investigate whether he might face some criminal charges for an alleged double-invoicing scheme used by In-Step to defraud the United States Customs Service.

DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS

Among various findings of fact and conclusions of law, the trial court determined that appellant owed reimbursement to the community from his separate estate for having enhanced his separate estate in breach of his fiduciary duty to the community; that the separate estate of appellee was due reimbursement from the community estate for funds she had used to purchase 2100 shares of In-Step International; that the separate estate of appellant was due reimbursement from appellee’s community estate for separate funds used by appellant for the contract to purchase the lot at 904 Waterview; that appellant made false and misleading statements to the U.S. Customs Service concerning the business operations of In-Step International, which could result in appellee being found personally liable; and that the community estate was insufficient to secure the reimbursement due appellee in relation to appellant’s breach of fiduciary duty to the community.

In the final reformed divorce decree, from among the various provisions, the court awarded the capital stock of In-Step to appellant’s separate estate and directed appel-lee to turn over the assets of the corporation directly to appellant. The court ordered appellant to indemnify appellee for any personal liability she might incur pursuant to the customs investigation of In-Step. It also awarded appellee the property and improvements at 904 Waterview to her separate estate, and ordered appellant to pay a money judgment in the amount of $178,370 to appel-lee, with security imposed by a vendor’s lien on appellant’s separate estate.

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Bluebook (online)
951 S.W.2d 80, 1997 WL 313150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winkle-v-winkle-texapp-1997.