Title: Austin v. Succession of Austin
Citation: 225 La. 449, 73 So. 2d 312
Docket Number: N/A
State: Louisiana
Issuer: Louisiana Supreme Court
Date: April 26, 1954

73 So. 2d 312 (1954) 225 La. 449 AUSTIN v. SUCCESSION OF AUSTIN. No. 41275. Supreme Court of Louisiana. April 26, 1954. Rehearing Denied May 31, 1954. *313 Weber &amp; Weber, Brumfield, Hebert &amp; Rush, Baton Rouge, for appellant. Kaufman, Anderson &amp; Leithead, Lake Charles, for appellee. MOISE, Justice. The plaintiff filed an opposition to the homologation of the First and Final Account of Horace R. Austin, Testamentary Executor. The executor filed an exception of no cause of action, which exception was maintained by the district court and judgment entered dismissing the action instituted by the plaintiff or the oppositions filed by her. From this judgment, plaintiff prosecutes this appeal. The chronological listing of the facts of the case has been so ably presented by the judge of the district court in his reasons for judgment that we will adopt that offering as our own: "On August 11, 1952, the testamentary executor filed his `First and Final Account,' and notice of the filing of this account was ordered published. Before the account came up for homologation, however, a petition was filed by Mrs. Mai Marie Austin, surviving widow of the decedent, opposing the account filed by the executor and the plan of distribution therein set out, urging several alternate grounds as a basis for that opposition. To this petition the executor filed an exception of no cause of action, which exception was regularly scheduled for argument on Oct. 2, 1952. On that date, however, with consent of the Court counsel for Mrs. Austin filed a supplemental and amended petition. Counsel for all parties thereupon stipulated (a) that *314 the exception of no cause of action theretofore filed by the executor would apply to the supplemental and amended petition as well as to the original petition; and (b) that a plea of presciption could be filed in behalf of the executor at a later date, but that oral arguments on that plea would be presented by counsel on that date, Oct. 2, 1952, which arguments subsequently thereto would be supplemented by written briefs, and that upon the filing of such briefs both the exception of no cause of action and the plea of prescription would be considered as having been submitted. The above judgment awarded Mrs. Austin a separation from bed and board and ordered a dissolution of the community of acquets and gains and a partition of its effects. Counsel for plaintiff contends that she, as the surviving spouse of Charles Henry Austin, is entitled to be decreed the owner of an undivided one-half of all property accumulated by them from the date of their marriage because (a) the partition agreement entered into between Charles Henry Austin and Mrs. Mai Marie Austin should be set aside annulled; or (b) a reconciliation after a separation from bed and board decree re-establishes the community of acquets and gains. The inventory taken at the time of the separation from bed and board shows assets which total $53,188.78 and liabilities in the amount of $28,186.86. In the partition agreement, Mrs. Austin received cash of $10,500 and thirty shares of Calcasieu Building and Loan Stock having a par value of $100 per share and she was also given a Dodge automobile and a piano which had belonged to the community. An examination of this record reveals that there was no fraud, and the record is barren of any proof of the deceased husband's forcing the wife to sue for separation or to enter into a partition agreement, as alleged by her in her petition. Of course, we, as Judges, are bound to take as true, for the purposes of the exception of no legal right or cause of action, all well pleaded allegations of the petition, but we are not bound to accept the plaintiff's conclusions of law. Herring v. Breedlove, 222 La. 1088, 64 So. 2d 441; Succession of Gladney, 223 La. 949, 67 So. 2d 547; Breaux v. Laird, 223 La. 446, 65 So. 2d 907. A reading of this petition convinces us that the plaintiff bases her cause of action on mere conclusions of the pleader. *316 In Latham v. Latham, 216 La. 791, 44 So. 2d 870, 871, this Court refused to annul a judgment of separation form bed and board on the grounds of fraud and ill-practice. In that case we made this pronouncement: Then, again, In re Phoenix Building &amp; Homestead Association, 203 La. 565, 14 So. 2d 447, 451, we said: Under the provisions of Article 2446 of the LSA-Civil Code, both the husband and the wife were at liberty to enter into a partition agreement after the judgment of separation from bed and board. There is no statement in the agreement which would indicate that Mrs. Austin was precluded from claiming alimony, and in the judgment of separation from bed and board such a right to so claim was specifically reserved to her. Both of the parties were represented by counsel. The partition agreement was signed by both husband and wife, and that agreement specifically states: This partition was signed in April of 1936. Article 155 of the LSA-Civil Code provides: Article 123 of the LSA-Civil Code holds: Article 136 of the LSA-Civil Code reads: In Succession of LeBesque, 137 La. 567, 68 So. 956, 957, this Court recognized the failure of the legislature to provide for a superinducement of the community after a reconciliation and stated that we were without authority to legislate. The Court held: "There is no law which says that a reconciliation of the spouses superinduces a partnership or community of acquets or gains, as is superinduced by marriage. The court is without authority to legislate upon the subject; and as it has been twice decided that the community of acquets and gains is not re-established by the reconciliation of the parties, the property acquired after a separation from bed and board by either or both spouses remains *317 the separate property of him or her who acquired it." In Cotton v. Wright, 214 La. 169, 36 So. 2d 713, we find a very pertinent statement: Act 200 of 1944 was amended by Act 304 of 1950, LSA-C.C. art. 155. This act reads: Therefore, only by the privilege conferred in the act of 1950 can the community be re-established, and it must be done with the forms and solemnities of the law as that act has prescribed. Mrs. Austin testified that her husband told her that he had re-established the community, but she submits no act showing such re-establishmentnotarial or otherwise. Therefore, when these parties became reconciled after the decree of separation from bed and board, they did not re-establish the dissolved community. An alternate contention is made by the wife that she is entitled to the ownership of an undivided one-half interest in and to all the property which was accumulated by them since their marriage, on the basis of an equitable ownership, and to bolster up that contention her counsel cites the case of Delamour v. Roger, 7 La.Ann. 152. In the Delamour case, plaintiff was the defendant's concubine, and the court found that this woman had contributed capital, skill and application to the accumulation of property, and that the real property in this city standing in the name of the defendant was purchased with the profits of their business as hairdressers and keepers of a perfumery and fancy store. The Court held: Counsel for plaintiff cites the case of Prieto v. Succession of Prieto, 165 La. 710, 115 So. 911. That case was one where there was a bigamous marriage, and the wife was permitted to judicially ascertain her claim as a partner. The case was remanded, and we are not informed, from the reports, of its outcome. Where parties marry according to the forms and solemnities of the law and where their rights are settled by the express provisions of the Code, there can be no appeal to equity, which is no more or no less than "an appeal * * * to * * reason * * * where positive law is silent." Article 21 of the LSA-Civil Code. The duty of the wife is fully prescribed in Articles 119 and 120 of the Code. The duty of the husband is fixed that he should *318 support and care for her, and since there has been a partition agreement and a dissolution of the community by forms of law, we see no authority for such to be exercised under the principle of equitable ownership. This is a refinement, which, as Judges, we cannot ordain. It is further contended, in the alternative, that Mrs. Austin is entitled to the ownership of one undivided one-half of the property on the quantum meruit basis. There is no proof of this verbal contract between the plaintiff and her late husband, and we know of no law where a wife may recover from the estate of her deceased husband on a quantum meruit basis. Plaintiff further makes a contention based on the allegations that for the years 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951, from the deceased's alleged United States Income Tax Returns, that his income was community income. We cannot hold that a mere statement in an income tax return, as to income, would convert the income into such a status. Plaintiff's last contention is that as a widow she is entitled to a widow's one-fourth under Article 2382 of the LSA-Civil Code. This contention certainly does not present a cause of action, because of a partition already made of the community and because of the bequest made to her under the terms of the husband's last will and testament. The total value of decedent's estate was $196,841.83. By the will, $50,000 was left in trust, from which she is to receive $350 per month, and she was in addition bequeathed the use of the home place as long as she maintained her residence there, all taxes and insurance to be paid by the executor. For these reasons, the judgment of the trial court maintaining the exception of no cause of action filed by the Testamentary Executor to the original and the supplemental and amended petitions and the second supplemental and amended petition is affirmed, and plaintiff's cause of action or oppositions are dismissed at her cost.