Limbaugh v. Limbaugh

• Citation: 71 S.W.3d 1
• Decision Date: 06 February 2002
• Docket Number: No. 10-00-017-CV.,10-00-017-CV.
• Parties: Leland H. LIMBAUGH, Jr., Appellant, v. Maria LIMBAUGH, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

71 S.W.3d 1

Leland H. LIMBAUGH, Jr., Appellant, v. Maria LIMBAUGH, Appellee.

No. 10-00-017-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Waco.

February 6, 2002.

J. Dwight Carmichael, McGregor, McGregor & Carmichael, P.C., Hillsboro, for appellant.

Stephen N. Smith, Martin, Showers, Smith & McDonald, L.L.P., Hillsboro, for appellee.

Before Chief Justice DAVIS, Justice VANCE, and Justice GRAY.

OPINION

REX D. DAVIS, Chief Justice.

Leland Limbaugh appeals a divorce decree dissolving the marriage between Maria Limbaugh and himself. He claims in four issues that: (1) the court erred by refusing to file additional findings of fact and conclusions of law; (2) the court abused its discretion by requiring spousal maintenance payments; (3) the portion of the decree requiring him to pay money directly to Maria if his military retirement benefits are reduced is void as contrary to federal law and as permanent alimony; and (4) the portion of the decree requiring him to maintain a survivor benefit annuity for Maria improperly requires "a permanent, and for a period of time double, monthly maintenance payment."

BACKGROUND

According to the testimony, Maria was born in Spain. Maria's mother took her out of school after the third grade. She has a limited command of the English language. She married Leland in December 1974 when he was stationed with the Navy at Rota, Spain. She was nineteen when they married. They moved to South Carolina in 1977. She got a job in 1978 at a Christmas decoration factory. The factory terminated her employment seven months later when she was expecting the Limbaughs' second child. Since then, Maria has cleaned houses as her primary occupation. The Limbaughs apparently moved to Texas after Leland retired from the Navy in 1993.

Maria filed for divorce after she discovered that Leland was having an affair. Her petition alleges adultery and cruel treatment as grounds for divorce. See Tex. Fam.Code Ann. §§ 6.002, 6.003 (Vernon 1998). Leland does not challenge the court's findings that he committed adultery and cruelly treated Maria. The Limbaughs have two adult children and one sixteen-year-old daughter. Leland does not contest those portions of the court's decree designating Maria as their daughter's sole managing conservator and ordering him to pay child support.

From the reporter's record, we conclude that the primary points of contention at trial were:

• the value of the marital residence;

• to whom the court should award an unimproved tract of twenty acres;

• whether Maria was entitled to a spousal maintenance award;

• whether a 1992 Jeep Cherokee driven by Maria was her separate property or a community asset;

• how much income Leland's farrier business generates; and

• whether the court should include Leland's monthly payments for Maria's survivor benefit annuity within his "disposable" naval retirement payments, which are subject to division by a divorce court.

We discuss the evidence and the court's findings and decree in more detail hereinafter insofar as they relate to the issues presented.

ADDITIONAL FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

Leland argues in his first issue that the court erred by failing to make additional findings of fact and conclusions of law. Maria responds that no additional findings or conclusions were necessary because the issues on which Leland sought additional findings and conclusions were not "ultimate or controlling issues."

After the court signed the decree, Leland timely filed a request for findings of fact and conclusions of law. See Tex.R. Civ. P. 296. He filed a notice of past due findings and conclusions when the court failed to file any findings within twenty days after his request. Id. 297. The court filed its findings and conclusions eleven days later. Leland then timely file a motion requesting additional findings and conclusions. Id. 298. The court denied Leland's request for additional findings and conclusions by written order.

PERTINENT AUTHORITIES

Rule of Civil Procedure 296 provides in pertinent part, "In any case tried in the district or county court without a jury, any party may request the court to state in writing its findings of fact and conclusions of law." Id. 296. If a party deems the court's findings and conclusions deficient in some respect, he may request "specified additional or amended findings or conclusions." Id. 298.

A court need not make findings of fact on undisputed matters. See SMI/USA, Inc. v. Profile Techs., Inc., 38 S.W.3d 205, 209 (Tex.App.-Waco 2001, no pet.); International Ins. Agency, Inc. v. Railroad Comm'n, 893 S.W.2d 204, 211 (Tex.App.-Austin 1995, writ denied); Howard P. Foley Co. v. Cox, 679 S.W.2d 58, 64 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1984, no writ). Rather, a court must make findings of fact and conclusions of law "on each material issue raised by the pleadings and evidence." Roberts v. Roberts, 999 S.W.2d 424, 434 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1999, no pet.); accord Humble v. Humble, 805 S.W.2d 558, 563 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 1991, writ denied); Chislum v. Home Owners Funding Corp., 803 S.W.2d 800, 805 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1991, writ denied); Lettieri v. Lettieri, 654 S.W.2d 554, 556 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1983, writ dism'd).

Stated another way, when a proper request is made, the court must make findings and conclusions on the ultimate or controlling issues but not on evidentiary issues. See Roberts, 999 S.W.2d at 434; Hill v. Hill, 971 S.W.2d 153, 155 (Tex. App.-Amarillo 1998, no pet.); Grossnickle v. Grossnickle, 935 S.W.2d 830, 838 (Tex. App.-Texarkana 1996, writ denied); Rafferty v. Finstad, 903 S.W.2d 374, 376 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1995, writ denied); Fanning v. Fanning, 828 S.W.2d 135, 152 (Tex.App.-Waco 1992), rev'd on other grounds, 847 S.W.2d 225 (Tex.1993) (per curiam); Humble, 805 S.W.2d at 563; Lettieri, 654 S.W.2d at 556; see also Levine v. Maverick County Water Control & Improvement Dist., 884 S.W.2d 790, 796 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1994, writ denied); Associated Tel. Directory Publishers, Inc. v. Five D's Pub'g Co., 849 S.W.2d 894, 901 (Tex.App.-Austin 1993, no writ).

The distinction between an ultimate or controlling issue and an evidentiary issue has been defined in the following manner:

An ultimate fact issue is one that is essential to the right of action. Wichita Falls & Oklahoma Ry. Co. v. Pepper, 134 Tex. 360, 371, 135 S.W.2d 79, 84 (1940). Such an issue seeks a fact that would have a direct effect upon the judgment. Amoco Prod. Co. v. Thompson, 657 S.W.2d 824, 829 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi), rev'd on other grounds sub nom. Ideal Lease Serv., Inc. v. Amoco Prod. Co., 662 S.W.2d 951 (Tex.1983). In contrast, an evidentiary issue is one that the jury may consider in deciding the controlling issue, but that is not a controlling issue itself. Sell v. C.B. Smith Volkswagen, Inc., 611 S.W.2d 897, 903 (Tex.Civ.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1981, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

Clear Lake City Water Auth. v. Winograd, 695 S.W.2d 632, 639 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1985, writ ref'd n.r.e.); accord In re Marriage of Morris, 12 S.W.3d 877, 886 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2000, no pet.); Daves v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline, 952 S.W.2d 573, 578 (Tex.App.-Amarillo 1997, pet. denied); Finch v. Finch, 825 S.W.2d 218, 221 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1992, no writ); Tamez v. Tamez, 822 S.W.2d 688, 693 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1991, writ denied).

A court's conclusions of law need not "set out in minute detail every reason or theory by which it arrived at its final conclusion." Chislum, 803 S.W.2d at 806; accord Associated Tel. Directory Publishers, 849 S.W.2d at 901; Lettieri, 654 S.W.2d at 556; Stephenson v. Vineyard, 564 S.W.2d 424, 425 (Tex.Civ.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1978, writ ref'd n.r.e.). Thus, in a straightforward case in which there are not multiple grounds for recovery or defense, the court need not set out the reasoning behind its judgment in any detail.¹ See Sheldon Pollack Corp. v. Pioneer Concrete of Tex., Inc., 765 S.W.2d 843, 845 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1989, writ denied); Fraser v. Goldberg, 552 S.W.2d 592, 594 (Tex.Civ.App.-Beaumont 1977, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

However, the converse is likewise true. See Sheldon Pollack, 765 S.W.2d at 845; Joseph v. Joseph, 731 S.W.2d 597, 598 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1987, no writ); Fraser, 552 S.W.2d at 594. "In factually complicated situations in which there are two or more possible grounds for recovery or defense, an undue burden would be placed upon an appellant. Having to try to guess the reason or reasons the trial judge ruled against him should not be required." Fraser, 552 S.W.2d at 594; accord Beard v. Beard, 49 S.W.3d 40, 52 (Tex.App.-Waco 2001, pet. filed); Roberts, 999 S.W.2d at 437; Sheldon Pollack, 765 S.W.2d at 845; Joseph, 731 S.W.2d at 598. Thus, a court must file more detailed conclusions of law in such a case.

From these authorities, we distill several principles:

• findings of fact are required when "material" factual disputes exist;

• factual disputes are "material" when they impact ultimate or controlling issues, which are those issues that have a direct effect on the judgment; and

• detailed conclusions of law are required only in complicated cases involving multiple grounds of recovery or defense.

In the divorce context, the First Court of Appeals has said the following regarding findings of fact:

In a case of property division, the ultimate and controlling issue is whether the trial court divided the property in a "just and right manner" pursuant to [what is now section 7.001 of the Family Code]. This Court has repeatedly held that the value of specific property is not an ultimate issue, and therefore need not be set out in findings of fact.

Rafferty, 903 S.W.2d at 376 (citations omitted). Several other courts have followed this line of reasoning in divorce cases.² See, e.g., Hill, 971 S.W.2d at 155; Fanning, 828 S.W.2d at 152; Humble, 805 S.W.2d at 563.

Our research has disclosed three divorce cases in which findings were required in an appeal from a...