Latterner v. Latterner

SPENCE, J.

An interlocutory decree of divorce was entered in favor of plaintiff and she was awarded alimony in the sum of $250 per month. No appeal was taken by either party from the portions of the decree above mentioned, but plaintiff appeals from the remaining portions of the decree wherein it was adjudged that there was no community property, that certain real property therein described was the separate property of defendant and that the award for alimony should not be a lien upon said real property.

The parties were married in Vermont in 1903. Immediately after their marriage, they took up their residence in Boston, Massachusetts, where defendant practiced medicine until 1906. In that year they moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and defendant practiced medicine in that city until 1908. In the latter part of 1908, they moved to Los Angeles, California, and continuously resided in this state up to the time of their separation in 1923. The real property in controversy consisted of two adjoining lots in the city of Los Angeles which were purchased by defendant in 1912 and 1920 respectively. Although it was stipulated that all of the property had been earned and acquired since the marriage, there was a conflict in the testimony regarding the amount of property which defendant had earned and ae

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quired before coining to California. The uncontradicted testimony showed that shortly after his arrival defendant deposited a sum in excess of !$19,000 in a Los Angeles bank and defendant’s testimony showed that through his earnings and investments before coming to this state he had acquired assets represented by cash and securities which had a value of approximately $50,000 at the time he arrived here. Defendant further testified that no part of the purchase price for the real property was paid from money earned in California but that said property was purchased with the assets which he had brought to this state. The purchase price for the lot acquired in 1912 was $14,000, but- our attention has not been called to the amount paid for the adjoining lot purchased in 1920. The trial court found “that all of the funds used in the purchase of said property and in making improvements thereon were funds brought by the defendant to California, from earnings and accumulations made by defendant in the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut”, and that “during all of the said time said states of Massachusetts and Connecticut were common-law states and the law of community property did not obtain therein”. Upon these findings the trial court concluded that there was no community property and that said real property was the separate property of defendant.