Tasha Pulley Anthony v. Jared David Anthony, Sr
304 So.3d 862
La. Ct. App.2020Background
- Tasha Pulley Anthony filed for divorce on November 7, 2013; the parties married in December 1998 and had three children.
- Jared moved out of the family home in November 2013; Tasha and the children remained in the home until it was destroyed by flooding on August 12, 2016.
- The parties stipulated to a fair monthly rental value of $1,300 but did not reduce any informal occupancy agreement to a court judgment or expressly defer the rental issue contemporaneously.
- At the partition trial on January 3, 2019 (judgment signed June 14, 2019), the trial court awarded Tasha exclusive use and occupancy retroactive to November 7, 2013, and awarded Jared $46,800 in retroactive rental reimbursement.
- Tasha appealed, arguing the trial court erred in awarding retroactive use-and-occupancy and retroactive rental reimbursement.
- The First Circuit vacated the portions awarding retroactive use-and-occupancy and the $46,800 rental award, remanded for recalculation of equalization payments, and affirmed the remainder of the judgment.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether the trial court could award use and occupancy retroactively at the partition proceeding | Tasha: retroactive award was improper because statute authorizes use-and-occupancy only after a contradictory hearing and does not permit retroactive awards at partition | Jared: court may recognize her actual exclusive occupancy and award use-and-occupancy/rent from the date of the divorce filing | Court vacated retroactive use-and-occupancy — La. R.S. 9:374(B) does not authorize awarding use-and-occupancy retroactively at the partition proceeding; trial court abused its discretion |
| Whether the trial court could award retroactive rental reimbursement | Tasha: retroactive rent improper because parties never contemporaneously agreed to defer the rental issue nor was there a court award of use-and-occupancy at the time occupancy began | Jared: he reserved his right to rental reimbursement in pleadings and parties stipulated rental value, so retroactive rent was appropriate | Court vacated the $46,800 retroactive rental award — under La. R.S. 9:374(C) and precedent, retroactive rent requires either a contemporaneous court award or an agreement to defer the rental issue when use-and-occupancy is established; no such agreement or award existed here; remanded to recalculate equalization |
Key Cases Cited
- Benoit v. Benoit, 91 So.3d 1015 (La. App. 1st Cir. 2012) (refused retroactive rent where informal occupancy arrangement was not reduced to judgment and the parties did not contemporaneously agree to defer the rental issue)
- McCarroll v. McCarroll, 701 So.2d 1280 (La. 1997) (pre-amendment rule requiring contemporaneous award of rent at time use-and-occupancy was determined)