In Leggio v. Florian, the trial court awarded three real estate properties to the wife over an allegation by the husband that all of the properties were his separate property. No. 14-21-00168-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 5563 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] August 4, 2022, no pet. history). In the court of appeals, the court noted that “[i]f the trial court mischaracterizes a spouse’s separate property as community property and erroneously awards some of that property to the other spouse, then the trial court’s decree of divorce must normally be reversed in part and the case remanded for a new division of the marital estate, unless no harm has been shown from the erroneous division.” Id. There is a statutory presumption that the properties were community property because they were “possessed by either spouse during or on dissolution of marriage.” Id. (citing Tex. Fam. Code § 3.003(a)). The husband had the burden of rebutting the community-property presumption. The court noted:
divorce
Presentation: Trust Issues In Divorce Proceedings
David F. Johnson presented “Trust Issues In Divorce Proceedings” on November 17, 2021. This presentation covered trust issues that arise in divorce disputes, such as spouses creating an irrevocable trust, fraud claims to void a trust, conflict of interest issues raised by the same attorney drafting both spouse’s estate/trust documents,…
Court Reversed Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Judgment Due To A Lack Of Damages
In In the Interest of M.G.G., an ex-husband was made a constructive trustee of stocks that he held in his retirement account for his ex-wife. No. 05-19-00777-CV, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 6291 (Tex. App.—Dallas August 10, 2020, no pet. history). The divorce order stated that upon sale of the stock, the ex-husband should send the gross receipts from the sale to the ex-wife.
Magistrate Suggests Dismissing A Settlor’s Claim Against Trust Protector Because Of A Lack Of Fiduciary Duty
In Ron v. Ron, a wife created a trust with her husband as a trustee, a friend as a trust protector, and their children as the beneficiaries. No. 3:19-CV-00211, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52507 (S.D. Tex. February 4, 2020). The wife alleged that the husband made inappropriate transfers of…
Court Holds That Trust No Longer Owned Vehicle Because It Allowed Beneficiary’s Wife To Drive It
In In the Interest of H.D.V., a husband appealed from a bench trial in a divorce proceeding. No. 05-15-00421-CV, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9520 (Tex. App.—Dallas August 26, 2016, no pet. history). His mother had set up a trust for him and funded it with various assets, including a…