Court Opinion

ID: 9777313
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:07:09.657815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:52.301987
License: Public Domain

HALL, Justice,
concurring.
I do not agree with the majority’s rulings on the reimbursement issues.
Separate property expended for the general use and well-being of community living is deemed a gift to the community, and there is no right of reimbursement. Norris v. Vaughan, 152 Tex. 491, 260 S.W.2d 676, 683 (1953). However, the principle of reimbursement does apply to expenditures from the separate estate which may be traced to a specific enhancement of the community estate. Id., at 260 S.W.2d 682.
In our case, it is my view that the portions of appellee’s separate estate for which reimbursement was granted (depletion of corporate capital assets and decrease in cash values of insurance policies) were so grossly commingled with the community funds (the company earnings) that they cannot be separately identified nor traced to a specific community benefit. Accordingly, I would hold that the trial court erred in allowing the reimbursement. Nevertheless, in the light of the entire record, it is my further belief that the court’s division of the property, which includes the reimbursements in question, was fair, just and equitable. The error was therefore harmless. Williams v. Williams, 160 Tex. 99, 325 S.W.2d 682, 684 (1959). For this reason, I concur in affirming the judgment.