M.B. v. S.C.

• Decision Date: 09 April 2020
• Docket Number: No. 02-19-00168-CV,02-19-00168-CV
• Parties: M.B., individually and as next friend of I.C., Appellant v. S.C., Appellee
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

634 S.W.3d 102

M.B., individually and as next friend of I.C., Appellant

v.S.C., Appellee

No. 02-19-00168-CV

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth.

Delivered: April 9, 2020

Reconsideration En Banc Denied June 4, 2020

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: JOHN H. CAYCE, JR., JOANNA B. RAINES, KELLY HART & HALLMAN, LL., FORT WORTH, TEXAS.

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: THOMAS M. MICHEL, GRIFFITH, JAY & MICHEL, LLP, FORT WORTH, TEXAS, H. ALLEN PENNINGTON, JR., PENNINGTON HILL, LLP, FORT WORTH, TEXAS.

Before Sudderth, C.J.; Gabriel and Bassel, JJ.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Memorandum Opinion by Justice Gabriel In this permissive appeal we are asked to decide whether the trial court that rendered a final divorce decree (the divorce court) has exclusive jurisdiction to determine a postdecree action to divide community property that was not divided in the decree or whether such an action may be filed as a partition action in a different court. Based on the plain language of the pertinent Family Code provisions, we conclude that the divorce court does not have exclusive jurisdiction over such an action, allowing an aggrieved party to file a partition action in a different trial court.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2012, appellant M.B. (Wife) filed a petition for divorce against S.C. (Husband). On December 13, 2013, Husband and Wife executed an agreement incident to divorce (AID), arising from a mediated settlement agreement (MSA). See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 7.006. The MSA, which allegedly was incorporated into the AID, apparently divided several real-estate interests that Husband had disclosed in an inventory as being part of the community estate.¹ See, e.g., id. § 6.502(a)(1). The AID included a tail provision regarding undivided real-estate interests: "In the event [Husband], The Woodmont Company, or any related entity had an interest in any real estate on October 15, 2013, (Date of the MSA) that had not closed as of that date, [Son and Daughter² ] shall each have a 12.5% profit interest in such a transaction(s) that close[s] within 24 months following October 15, 2013." The divorce court approved and incorporated the AID into an agreed, final divorce decree. In the decree, the divorce court expressly reserved the right to make clarification orders and to enforce the decree. See id. §§ 9.002, 9.008

Three years later, Wife filed suit against Husband in a civil district court (the district court), asserting that four community-estate, real-estate partnerships had not been included in Husband's inventory and, therefore, had not been divided by the divorce court.³ Wife raised claims for (1) breach of the MSA, the AID, and the divorce decree by "failing to divide" and "refusing to convey" the profits to Son and Daughter in the real-estate transactions closed by the partnerships after the date of the MSA pursuant to the tail provision; (2) money had and received (MHAR) for failing to distribute to Wife "at least half" of the $700,000 in distributions attributable to one of the partnerships; (3) a declaratory judgment that Daughter was entitled to a 12.5% interest in the partnership interests and that Wife has "at least a 50% interest" in the four partnerships; and (4) a partition of the undivided community partnership interests.⁴ Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. §§ 37.003 –.004; Tex. Prop. Code Ann. § 23.001. In her partition claim, Wife alleged that she and Husband, during their marriage, obtained partnership interests in four partnerships. But because they were not divided in the final decree or the AID, Wife asserted that she and Husband remained joint owners of the partnership interests. Wife requested a partition of these jointly owned interests based on her community-estate share.

Husband filed a plea to the jurisdiction regarding Wife's MHAR, declaratory-judgment, and partition claims and argued that the divorce court, not the district court, had exclusive jurisdiction under the Family Code to divide undivided community assets postdecree. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. §§ 9.201, 9.203. Wife responded that the Family Code does not vest exclusive subject-matter jurisdiction in the divorce court, allowing her to choose her remedy and court. The district court granted Husband's plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction Wife's claims for partition, for a declaratory judgment, and for MHAR involving "the alleged undivided properties." The district court granted Wife's unopposed motion to file a permissive appeal, finding that whether Family Code Section 9.201 provides the exclusive remedy to divide previously undivided community property is a controlling question of law as to which there is a substantial difference of opinion. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(d). But the district court identified only the partition claim brought under the Property Code as part of the controlling question and did not identify the declaratory-judgment or MHAR claims.⁵ See Tex. R. Civ. P. 168. Therefore, although we granted the petition, we will confine ourselves to a determination of jurisdiction over Wife's partition claim, as identified by the district court. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 51.014(f) ; Tex. R. App. P. 28.3(k) ; see also Lakes of Rosehill Homeowners Assoc. v. Jones , 552 S.W.3d 414, 418 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2018, no pet.).

II. JURISDICTION TO PARTITION

By urging a plea to the jurisdiction, Husband asserted that the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over Wife's partition claim. Whether a trial court has subject-matter jurisdiction is a question of law that we review de novo. Harris Cty. v. Annab , 547 S.W.3d 609, 612 (Tex. 2018). In this review, we are guided solely by the allegations in Wife's petition, taking them as true and construing them in her favor.⁶ See Tex. Dep't of Crim. Justice v. Rangel , 595 S.W.3d 198, 204 (Tex. 2020). Wife had the burden to allege facts affirmatively showing that the district court had subject-matter jurisdiction over her partition claim. See Tex. Ass'n of Bus. v. Tex. Air Control Bd. , 852 S.W.2d 440, 446 (Tex. 1993).

A district court has "exclusive, appellate, or original jurisdiction of all actions, proceedings, and remedies, except in cases where exclusive, appellate, or original jurisdiction may be conferred by [the Texas] Constitution or other law on some other court, tribunal, or administrative body." Tex. Const. art. V, § 8. In addition to this constitutional jurisdiction, the Legislature has provided that district courts "may hear and determine any cause that is cognizable by courts of law or equity." Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 24.008. Thus, the district court here had jurisdiction over Wife's partition action unless exclusive jurisdiction had been conferred on the divorce court. See Huey-You v. Kimp , No. 02-16-00172-CV, 2018 WL 359633, at *2 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Jan. 11, 2018, pet. denied) (mem. op.).

Pointing to the absence of any exclusivity terms in the plain language of the Family Code, Wife argues that she could choose between two available remedies—a common-law right to partition the assets under Property Code Section 23.001 or a just and right division under Family Code Sections 9.201(a) and 9.203(a). Husband responds that the plain meaning of Section 9.203(a) confers exclusive jurisdiction on the divorce court to divide undivided community-estate assets.

The Family Code provides a remedy, subject to a just-and-right-division standard, if community-estate assets were not divided in the divorce decree: "Either former spouse may file a suit as provided by [Sections 9.201–.205] to divide property not divided or awarded to a spouse in a final decree of divorce or annulment." Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 9.201(a) ; see also id. §§ 7.001, 9.203(a). Interpreting similar "may" language in a decree-enforcement action under Section 9.001(a), we held that subject-matter jurisdiction was permissive and not mandatory or exclusive based on its language that a party "may request enforcement of that decree by filing a suit to enforce." Huey-You , 2018 WL 359633, at *2 (quoting and emphasizing Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 9.001(a) ). We pointed out that other Family Code provisions expressly provided for continuing, exclusive jurisdiction but that similar language was not included in Section 9.001(a). Id. (referring to Sections 9.101(a) and 155.001 and the express grant of "continuing, exclusive jurisdiction" in those sections).

Similarly, Section 9.201(a) contains no language mandating exclusive jurisdiction in the divorce court. See generally 33 John F. Elder, Texas Practice: A Quick Reference Guide to the Family Code § 10:27 (2019) ("Prior to [the passage of Sections 9.201–.205 in] 1987, the method available to accomplish the division of undivided property was a suit to partition, and this method seems to remain as an available option...."). Instead, Section 9.201(a) provides that a former spouse "may file a suit" in the divorce court, which is permissive, and includes no exclusivity language even though the Legislature included such language in other Family Code provisions. Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 9.201(a) (emphasis added); cf. Huey-You , 2018 WL 359633, at *2. Because our first and best statutory-interpretation tool is the statute's plain language, see Silguero v. CSL Plasma, Inc. , 579 S.W.3d 53, 59 (Tex. 2019), we conclude that the Legislature did not intend to vest exclusive jurisdiction in the divorce court when enacting this division remedy under the Family Code. See Haas v. Otto , 392 S.W.3d 290, 292 (Tex. App.—Eastland 2012, no pet.) ; Mayes v. Stewart , 11 S.W.3d 440, 448 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, pet. denied), disapproved of on other grounds by Agar Corp. v. Electro Circuits Int'l, LLC , 580 S.W.3d 136, 145 (Tex. 2019) ; Phillips v. Phillips , 951 S.W.2d 955, 957 (Tex. App.—Waco 1997, no pet.).⁷

Husband argues that the "shall" language in Section 9.203(a) regarding a divorce court's duty to divide undivided property under a just-and-right rubric shows that the...