Houska v. Houska
| Decision Date | 03 August 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 11054,11054 |
| Citation | 95 Idaho 568,512 P.2d 1317 |
| Parties | Margaret HOUSKA, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Joe HOUSKA, Jr., Defendant-Appellant |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Kramer, Plankey, Smith & Beeks, Twin Falls, for defendant-appellant.
Rayborn, Rayborn & Barchas, Twin Falls, for plaintiff-respondent.
Margaret Houska and Joe Houska, Jr., were married in August, 1958. They did not live together for the first four and one-half years of their marriage. During the first two and one-half of those years, Mrs. Houska worked as a clerk for the Idaho Power Company and used all her earnings to support herself. During the next two years, Mr. Houska supported her. Eventually, the couple rented a house and set up housekeeping together. Mrs. Houska gave up her job and devoted herself to housekeeping fulltime. There were no children born of the marriage, although Mrs. Houska's daughter from a previous marriage lived with them until the daughter's marriage. The record does not indicate a pre-marital property agreement between the parties.
According to a January, 1958 financial statement submitted to his bank as part of an application for a loan, Mr. Houska's personal net worth eight months before the marriage, was $400,196.48. This figure included the value of his farm near Hazelton, Idaho, certain stocks and bonds, cash, crops, cattle, feed on hand and farm machinery, minus outstanding liabilities. The parties' major source of income during the marriage was Mr. Houska's farming and cattle feeding operation.
During the marriage the parties maintained a single joint checking account, first at Hazelton, Idaho and later at Paul, Idaho. Apparently most, if not all of the money coming into the hands of the parties, except for Mrs. Houska's wages earned during the years 1959, 1960, 1961, and 1969, was deposited into this account. Out of this single account were paid all expenses of the farming and cattle feeding operation, as well as the couple's living expenses.
Mr. and Mrs. Houska had serious marital problems and eventually Mrs. Houska moved out and began to work again in Junuary, 1969. She kept her earnings separate from the joint checking account and used them to support herself.
On November 12, 1969, Mrs. Houska commenced this action to obtain a divorce and division of the parties' community property. Trial was held November 5, 1970, and on August 24, 1971, the district court granted Mrs. Houska a divorce on the ground of extreme mental cruelty. This appeal is taken from the portions of the findings, conclusions, and judgment relating to the amount and distribution of community property.
The district court made findings as to the assets owned by the parties at the time of trial. It concluded that of these assets, the land, stocks and bonds, and all farm equipment acquired before the marriage were Mr. Houska's separate property. The following is a comprehensive list of all other assets owned by the parties at the time of trial, as found by the district court:
Market Value
Cash $ 4,031.04
Cattle 40,504.40
Crops and Feed 63,146.21
Farm vehicles, machinery
and equipment acquired
during the marriage 13,260.00
Furniture 750.00
Antiques 375.00
1963 Chevrolet automobile 500.00
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TOTAL $122,566.65
The totals in each sub-group were compiled from the district court's list which valued each item separately. The district court found that the farming operation had outstanding liabilities of $64,490.89 at the time of trial. It also found that during the marriage, a granary and cement ditches had been added to Mr. Houska's land, enhancing its value in the amount of $14,000.
The district court denominated the sum of the value of the above-listed assets and the value added to Mr. Houska's land by the ditches and granary as the 'gross community estate.' The district court determined that the community owed Mr. Houska a credit of $2,458.35 from a transaction in which some of his separate property was traded for the Chevrolet. Subtracting this sum and the outstanding liabilities of $64,490.89 from the gross community estate of $126,566.65, he arrived at a 'net community estate' of $69,617.41.
In dividing the net community estate between the parties, the district court awarded all the above-listed assets, except the car and the furniture to Mr. Houska. The district court ordered Mr. Houska to pay Mrs. Houska the sum of $34,000, which represented her share of the net community estate. It was further ordered that Mrs. Houska be granted a lien on a portion of Mr. Houska's land to secure payment of the judgment. On appeal, Mr. Houska contends that all the assets comprising the gross estate are his separate property.
In reaching its decision, the district court relied on the doctrine that when separate and community funds are so commingled that it is impossible to trace the source of the funds used to purchase any given asset, all assets purchased with the commingled funds are community property. 1 The district court concluded that such commingling had occurred in the Houskas' checking account, and that thus all the assets purchased during the marriage with funds from that account were community property, including the disputed assets. The commingling doctrine is a special application of the general presumption that all property acquired during marriage is community property. 2 The presumption places the burden of persuasion on the party asserting that certain assets are separate property. 3 That party must prove that the property is separate with 'reasonable certainty and particularity.' 4 This may be done by accounting evidence as well as by direct tracing. 5
Mr. Houska chose to rely upon the accounting method employed in the recent Idaho case of Evans v. Evans. 6 This method of accounting involves proving that throughout the marriage, community living expenses consumed or...
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