Court Opinion

ID: 9698512
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:52:29.104288+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:41.504227
License: Public Domain

FOURNET, Chief Justice
(concurring).
I fully concur with the holding of the majority that inasmuch as this litigation involves a partition of the community formerly existing between the plaintiff (wife) and defendant (husband), he, by virtue of his superior position during the community, stood in a fidicuary relationship to his wife and owed “to her the duty of full disclosure of the community property and its value.” He could not, therefore, with impunity, conceal from her or misrepresent to her any material fact upon which she had a right to rely.
The majority finds as a fact the wife here was of “very limited education,” “relatively inexperienced in business and business matters,” and “without the benefit of independent counsel in the partition” proceeding, trusting her husband and relying “on him to deal fairly with her.” For this reason, no effort was made to have the community property appraised independently, or its true value ascertained and told to her. As a result, she accepted and received as her share of the community in the partition proceeding property valued at $78,600, included in which was a motel valued at some $75,000, on her husband’s representation she could clear between $600 and $700 a month from its operation, although it had, in fact, been operated at a loss of $2,000 in 1960 and of $4,500 in 1961 (the year in which the partition occurred), while her husband received other properties that were not only more valuable, but also revenue producing.
Under these facts, I concur in the decree.