Machado v. Machado

TRAYNOR, J. The trial court entered an interlocutory decree of divorce in favor of Mary Machado on the ground of extreme cruelty and refused to grant a divorce to defendant and cross-complainant John Machado. The court determined the character of various items of property, and awarded plaintiff alimony, custody of the two minor children, $75 per month for each child as support and maintenance, and exclusive possession of the joint tenancy family residence property until further order of the court. The court also enjoined defendant from molesting, annoying, or striking plaintiff. No appeal was taken from the interlocutory decree of divorce, but both parties appeal from other parts of the judgment.

Property Rights

The parties were married in June 1950 and separated in March 1959. At the time of the marriage plaintiff owned no separate property. Defendant had title to three parcels of ranch land (40, 38 and 2 acres respectively), various items of farming equipment, cattle, an automobile, and a $40,000 savings account. Although he paid for the 40-aere and the 2-acre parcels before the marriage, he had paid only $3,000 of the $12,000 purchase price on the 38-acre parcel. It is conceded that after the marriage he paid $1,700 on this parcel with his separate funds.

During the marriage defendant devoted all of his working time and energy to farming and dairy operations on the three parcels and on another 40-acre parcel leased from his father. All income during the marriage was derived from these operations, except interest on the spouses’ $8,500 joint savings and loan account and defendant’s $40,000 account. The proceeds of the farm and dairy were deposited in a single commercial bank account. All expenditures were made from this account, including payments for the balance due on the 38-acre parcel ($7,300) and for the family residence property, household furniture, a 1959 Oldsmobile, farming and dairy equipment, and cattle.

The trial court determined that the parties owned no community property, that they owned as joint tenants the family residence and the $8,500 savings account, and that defendant owned as his separate property the three parcels of ranch [505]land, all farming equipment, tractors and cattle, the 1959 Oldsmobile, the household furniture, and the $40,000 savings account. In doing so the court relied on Estate of Pepper, 158 Cal. 619, 623-624 [112 P. 62, 31 L.R.A. N.S. 1092], and held that the agricultural income of defendant’s separate property and the property purchased with this income was entirely his separate property. In Estate of Neilson, 57 Cal.2d 733, 741 [22 Cal.Rptr. 1, 371 P.2d 745], we overruled the Pepper case and held that the part of the profits of a separate property enterprise attributable to the husband’s efforts are community property, whether the enterprise be classified as “commercial” or “agricultural.”