Court Opinion

ID: 9701561
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:24:54.578254+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:25.076027
License: Public Domain

SPAETH, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
For the reasons stated in the majority opinion, I agree that the wife is entitled to a partition of all realty and personalty owned by the parties as tenants by the entireties. I also agree that the husband is not entitled to reimbursement from the wife for his partial discharge of her 1976 income tax liability, but as to this, my reasons are different from the majority’s. The husband testified at trial that he
tried very hard to do two things. One thing was to get [my wife] to acknowledge her [tax] liability and to make funds available to meet that obligation. The other thing I tried to do was to get a joint tax return executed by [my] wife.
Record at 112a.
Still, there is no evidence that the wife did “acknowledge” her tax liability in the sense of agreeing to reimburse the husband;1 her signature on the joint tax return did not constitute such an agreement. Nor is there evidence that the husband was under legal obligation to pay the wife’s taxes; he could have filed a separate return. In these circumstances, the husband failed to show that his partial discharge of the wife’s income taxes was anything other than volunteered.
I disagree with the majority’s disposition of the husband’s claim for reimbursement from the wife for her pro rata *542share of the mortgage, tax, and maintenance expenses connected with the marital domicile.2 The majority says that
[bjecause the husband wrongfully excluded the wife . we cannot equitably require the wife to now contribute funds for . . . maintenance. . . . Mortgage payments, however, . . . increase the equities of both parties regardless of the exclusion of the wife. . Thus, the husband should properly be reimbursed the amount of the wife’s portion of the mortgage payment
At 1028.
In my opinion this disposition is (1) premature, and (2) improperly related to a finding by the majority that by using a chain lock, the husband excluded the wife from the marital domicile.
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On remand, the partitioning of the marital domicile will proceed according to Pa.R.C.P. 1551 et seq. Incident to the partition the lower court will be obliged to file another adjudication, which should include findings of fact concerning “the credit which should be allowed or the charge which should be made, in favor of or against any party because of use and occupancy of the property, taxes, rents or other amounts paid, services rendered, liabilities incurred or benefits derived in connection therewith or therefrom . . .” Pa.R.C.P. 1570(a)(5). The need for such an adjudication is clear. In the adjudication that gave rise to the present appeal, the lower court, after denying the wife’s request to partition the marital domicile, simply concluded that “[sjince the [husband] has continued to have the exclusive use and enjoyment of the entireties real estate, the [wife] is not *543obligated to reimburse him for any sums expended by the [husband] in the upkeep and maintenance thereof.” Record 148a. The court therefore made no findings of fact or conclusions of law regarding the specific items for which the husband claimed reimbursement, i. e., mortgage payments, insurance premiums, real estate taxes, and major plumbing repairs.
I have little doubt that when the lower court files its adjudication pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1570(a)(5), it will find that the husband is entitled to reimbursement from the wife for a proportionate share of the mortgage payments and homeowners’ insurance premiums. See Weiskircher v. Connelly, 248 Pa. 327, 93 A. 1068 (1915), and Sivak Estate, 161 Pa.Super. 323, 53 A.2d 858 (1947), aff’d, 359 Pa. 194, 58 A.2d 456 (1948) (upon the partition of realty a tenant in common is entitled to an equitable charge against his co-tenants if he has paid a disproportionate share of the mortgage or fire insurance on the realty). The court may also find that the husband is entitled to reimbursement from the wife for a proportionate share of the real estate taxes, as well as of the cost of the plumbing repairs, if those repairs produced a benefit that inured to the wife’s benefit. See Huffman Estate, 349 Pa. 18, 21, 36 A.2d 638, 639 (1944). On the wife’s side, I have little doubt that the court will find that the wife is entitled to one-half of fair rental value of the marital domicile for at least part of the period it has been in the husband’s exclusive possession. See, e. g., Linett v. Linett, 437 Pa. 138, 262 A.2d 849 (1970); Reifschneider v. Reifschneider, 413 Pa. 342, 196 A.2d 324 (1964); Lindenfelser v. Lindenfelser, 396 Pa. 530, 153 A.2d 901 (1959).3 The fact that the husband has occupied the house rather than rented *544it to third parties in no way affected the wife’s right to participate in the rental value of the property. Cornelius v. Cornelius, 104 Pa.Super. 455, 160 A. 150 (1932). Cf. Search Estate, 160 Pa.Super. 488, 52 A.2d 232 (1947) (tenant in common liable to co-tenants for his exclusive possession of jointly owned residence).
Given the fact, however, that so far the lower court has filed no adjudication pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1570(a)(5), and has therefore made no findings on any of these matters, I submit that the orderly, and proper, procedure for us to follow is simply to vacate the order of the lower court disallowing the husband’s claims against the wife for reimbursement for payments related to the marital domicile, and to remand with directions that the lower court conduct further proceedings as required by Pa.R.C.P. 1551 et seq.

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As noted, the majority says that [bjecause the husband wrongfully excluded the wife . we cannot equitably require the wife to now contribute funds for . . . maintenance .
At 1029.
This implies that if the husband had not wrongfully excluded the wife, we could equitably require the wife to contribute funds for maintenance; in other words, that the wife’s liability for maintenance, and I should add, the real estate taxes, depends upon whether she has been wrongfully excluded from the domicile.
Since the majority has found that the husband’s misappropriation of the furniture (which was held by the parties as tenants by the entireties) constituted an offer to destroy the parties’ entireties estates in all personalty and realty, I am puzzled why the majority believes that the wife’s rights or liabilities in the marital domicile are affected by whether or not she has been wrongfully excluded from it. I submit that whether or not the wife was wrongfully excluded, she is entitled to partition of the marital domicile, and that the equitable charges against each party should be determined, not by the nature of the wife’s departure from the domicile, *545but by the husband’s exclusive “use and occupancy of the property,” the amount and nature of the “taxes, rents or other amounts paid” by the husband, and by the “services rendered, liabilities incurred or benefits derived in connection” with or from the property. Pa.R.C.P. 1570(a)(5).
The only reason that the issue of the wife’s exclusion from the marital domicile is important is that if she was excluded, the exclusion might establish the date from which the equitable charges between the parties began to accrue. Normally, “anytime either a husband or wife contributes towards the purchase of entireties property [his or her] contribution is presumed to be a gift to the other.” Butler v. Butler, 464 Pa. 522, 528, 347 A.2d 477, 480 (1975). See also DiFlorido v. DiFlorido, 459 Pa. 641, 331 A.2d 174 (1975); Peoples Savings & Dime Bank & Trust Co. v. Scott, 303 Pa. 294, 298, 154 A. 489, 490 (1931) (“Money expended by a wife for the benefit of the home, of which she is a member, cannot be recovered from the husband, in the absence of some understanding as to repayment . . . ”). Such a presumption, however, does not obtain once a husband and wife separate, and one of them begins to misappropriate entireties property. The husband’s removal of the furniture constituted a misappropriation. However, was that the first misappropriation, so that the equitable charges between the parties began to accrue then? If the husband excluded the wife from the marital domicile, that too constituted a misappropriation. In deciding when the equitable charges between the parties began to accrue, therefore, it is necessary to know whether the husband excluded the wife before he removed the furniture.
Accordingly, on remand I should also direct the lower court to make further findings concerning the husband’s exclusion of the wife from the marital domicile. The lower court concluded that the wife was not excluded, and based its conclusion upon the following findings of fact: The husband travels extensively incident to his employment. After the separation, he did not change the door locks on the dwelling, although he has regularly used a chain lock on the *546front door in addition to the regular door lock that existed prior to the parties’ separation. On a number of occasions following the separation, the wife went to the dwelling, but when she encountered the chain lock she made no further efforts to gain admission. Record at 146a-47a. The majority, relying on these same findings of fact, concludes that the wife was excluded. At 1027-1028. I believe that the lower court’s findings by themselves, are viewed apart from the rest of the record, are not sufficient to show that the wife was excluded. I agree that there was other testimony that could support a finding of exclusion. However, the lower court has not discussed this other testimony, and in the absence of findings concerning its credibility, I am unwilling to hazard a determination of whether the wife was, or was not, excluded, and if she was, when she was.
I should therefore remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

. I wish to note my disagreement with the majority’s statement that the wife testified that the “[husband did] not request her to reimburse him for any portion of the tax liability.” At 1027. The wife testified that she did “not recall him asking [her] to.” Record at 75a. Nothing turns on this difference, however, for evidence that one does not recall a request for reimbursement is not evidence that one agreed to make reimbursement.

. It should be noted that the discussion that follows concerning the wife’s liability for expenses related to the marital domicile has no bearing on the foregoing discussion concerning her income tax liability. The wife’s liability on the former expenses arises as an incident to the partition of realty held by the parties as tenants by the entireties. The husband’s claim against the wife for his partial discharge of her income taxes constitutes no more than a claim for a personal debt.

. Even though the wife did not explicitly request one half of the fair rental value of the marital domicile in her complaint, but instead requested “general and equitable relief as is necessary,” Record at 59-6a, I do not believe that this claim is waived. See generally Beck v. Beiter, 146 Pa.Super. 114, 22 A.2d 90 (1941); Hoog v. Diehl, 134 Pa.Super. 14, 3 A.2d 187 (1938). Her complaint alleged that the husband has been in exclusive possession of the marital domicile since April 15, 1977; the evidence at trial supported this allegation; and the lower court in its adjudication so found.