25,542 La.App. 2 Cir. 2/23/94, McConathy v. McConathy
| Decision Date | 23 February 1994 |
| Citation | 632 So.2d 1200,89 Ed. Law Rep. 1257 |
| Parties | 25,542 La.App. 2 Cir |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
John C. Blake, Jonesboro, for defendant-appellant Andy Carl McConathy.
Gary D. Nunn, Jonesboro, for plaintiff-appellee Debra June Prestridge McConathy.
Before SEXTON, LINDSAY and BROWN, JJ.
The defendant, Andy Carl McConathy, appeals from a trial court judgment granting his former wife an award for her contributions to his education under LSA-C.C. Art. 121. The plaintiff, Debra June Prestridge McConathy (hereinafter referred to as "Ms. Prestridge"), answered the appeal. For the reasons assigned below, we reverse in part and affirm in part.
In the fall of 1976, Mr. McConathy enrolled at Louisiana Tech University. However, he left college in 1980 without earning a degree. In September of 1983, he married Ms. Prestridge.
In the fall of 1986, Mr. McConathy, at his wife's insistence, returned to Louisiana Tech University to complete the academic requirements for a degree in elementary education. While Mr. McConathy pursued his education, Ms. Prestridge worked fulltime and provided the primary financial support for the family. During this period, both sets of their parents supplied the couple with various degrees of financial assistance. Mr. McConathy's mother paid the note on their trailer home for many months, while Ms. Prestridge's family supplied them with certain building materials for their home.
Mr. McConathy completed his course work at the end of the spring 1988 quarter, and he undertook his practice teaching in the fall 1988 quarter. In November of 1988, he received his degree.
In the meantime, the spouses had separated on May 2, 1988, when the wife left the matrimonial domicile. (She alleged that Mr. McConathy physically evicted her.) Following her departure, Mr. McConathy continued to reside in their trailer home.
On May 6, 1988, Mr. McConathy filed a petition for a separation. Ms. Prestridge answered and reconvened, seeking a divorce on grounds of adultery and use of the matrimonial domicile. At a subsequent hearing, the trial court declined to award use of the family home to either spouse and instructed the spouses to work on a property settlement.
In January, 1990, Ms. Prestridge filed the instant suit for divorce based on the spouses living separate and apart for more than one year. A judgment of divorce was granted in her favor on February 8, 1990. In that judgment, she reserved her right to seek partition of the community property.
Subsequently, Ms. Prestridge filed a rule to partition community property, in which she requested an award for her financial contributions to Mr. McConathy's education that increased his earning power to the extent that she did not benefit during the marriage from that increased earning power, pursuant to the provisions of former LSA-C.C. Art. 161, upon which the present LSA-C.C. Art. 121 is based.
In his answer to the rule, Mr. McConathy included a student loan of about $10,000 in a list of community debts.
On February 13, 1991, a hearing on the rule was held. Ms. Prestridge presented her own testimony, as well as that of her mother, June Prestridge, and Mr. McConathy. Her former husband also testified during his own case-in-chief and presented the testimony of his mother, Lorene Lawrence.
On October 7, 1991, the trial court rendered its initial written opinion. However, due to "clerical and arithmetic errors," the trial court issued amended reasons for judgment on December 11, 1991. The opinions are virtually identical, except for the final calculations for partitioning the community property.
In both opinions, the trial court found that Ms. Prestridge met the requirements of LSA-C.C. Art. 121. Specifically, the court found that Ms. Prestridge earned substantially more than Mr. McConathy during the marriage. The court found that between 1986 and 1988 the wife's financial contribution was $31,800.00, while the husband's was only $5,840.00. However, following his completion of his first year of teaching, Mr. McConathy earned $18,653.85.
The trial court divided various community assets between the parties. It also found that Mr. McConathy's student loan of $9,772.80 was a community debt and that $3,575.00 of the student loan disbursements had been deposited into the couple's joint checking account. The court found that the community had two other debts, the amount owed on the mobile home (which was not proven at trial) and a loan of $771.71 owed to the Jonesboro Federal Savings & Loan.
In calculating Ms. Prestridge's lack of opportunity to share in Mr. McConathy's enhanced income, the trial court subtracted the difference between the amount Mr. McConathy earned his first year teaching school ($18,653.00) and the highest amount he earned during the marriage ($6,766.00), or a total of $11,877.00. The court also found that Mr. McConathy should be responsible for the debt associated with obtaining his degree. Because the assets of the community were insufficient to compensate Ms. Prestridge for her inability to share in the enhanced income, the court made a separate award to her after the equalization of the community assets and debts.
It utilized the following computations to equalize the assets and debts:
$ 11,877.00 Value of lost benefit
- 4,886.40 1/2 student loan assigned to husband
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6,990.60
- 385.86 1/2 community unsecured loan assigned to husband
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6,604.74
k 3,875.00 1/2 community assets in husband's possession
-------------
10,479.74
- 1,243.42 1/2 community assets in wife's possession
-------------
$ 9,236.32 AMOUNT DUE TO WIFE
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The court ordered that this sum be paid to Ms. Prestridge in installments of $192.42 per month for 47 months, with a final installment of $192.58. In conclusion, the trial court ordered that each party retain the community property in his possession, and all community debts were assessed against Mr. McConathy.
The court denied Ms. Prestridge's claim for reimbursement for the rental value of the husband's use of the family home. Exercising its discretion under former LSA-R.S. 9:308 (now LSA-R.S. 9:374), the court found that she had not proven her entitlement to be paid rent, citing Wochomurka v. Wochomurka, 552 So.2d 405 (La.App. 1st Cir.1989). It also denied her claim for attorney fees.
Mr. McConathy filed a motion for a new trial, contending that the wife's award under LSA-C.C. Art. 121 was unavailable at the time of the divorce in 1990 and that the trial court's calculations were erroneous. The trial court granted the motion on the limited issue of computing the reimbursements due to each party in light of Freeman v. Freeman, 552 So.2d 636 (La.App. 2d Cir.1989).
On March 9, 1993, the trial court issued written reasons for judgment, in which it reaffirmed its prior award. It corrected the prior judgment to the extent that there should be installments of $192.63 per month for 47 months, and a final (48th) payment of $192.71. It also directed that payment of the debt commence on April 1, 1993, and be paid by March 1, 1997. The court provided that the amount would be paid without interest if Mr. McConathy made all of the payments as directed. However, if payments were not made in accordance with its directive, the court decreed that Ms. Prestridge would be entitled to accelerate the full obligation and sue for the entire amount, along with the legal interest applicable on the date this judgment was signed.
Mr. McConathy appealed. He assigned as error the following: (1) the trial court erred in calculating the award under LSA-C.C. Art. 121 by basing it upon his increased earning power instead of his wife's direct financial contributions to his education; (2) the trial court erred in considering his present salary as evidence of his enhanced income or earning capacity; and (3) the trial court erred in awarding legal interest on the award under LSA-C.C. Art. 121.
Ms. Prestridge answered the appeal. Her assignments of error are as follows: (1) the trial court erred in not awarding her legal interest from the date of judicial demand on her award under LSA-C.C. Art. 121; (2) the trial court erred in allotting one-half of Mr. McConathy's student loans to her as a community debt; (3) the trial court incorrectly calculated the amount of the student loans by including the amount of interest to be paid on the loans; (4) the trial court erred in not awarding her one-half of the rental value of the community home under LSA-R.S. 9:374; and (5) the trial court erred in assessing the court costs against the spouses equally.
LSA-C.C. Art. 121 provides:
In a proceeding for divorce or thereafter, the court may award a party a sum for his financial contributions made during the marriage to education or training of his spouse that increased the spouse's earning power, to the extent that the claimant did not benefit during the marriage from the increased earning power.
The sum awarded may be in addition to a sum for support and to property received in the partition of community property.
This statute and its predecessor, LSA-C.C. Art. 161, have been infrequently addressed in Louisiana jurisprudence. 1 See Holland v. Holland, 539 So.2d 1011 (La.App. 4th Cir.1989), and Krielow v. Krielow, 622 So.2d 732 (La.App. 3d Cir.1993), both of which concerned LSA-C.C. Art. 161. In Holland, the court found that the article was inapplicable to divorce proceedings commenced before the effective date of the statute.
In Krielow, supra, the court allowed the husband to be reimbursed for one-half of such expenses as tuition and books connected to the wife's education. However, it found that the husband was not entitled to...
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