Gillespie v. Gillespie
New Mexico Supreme Court
84 N.M. 618, 506 P.2d 775 (1973)
- Written by Liz Nakamura, JD
Facts
Carl Gillespie (plaintiff) started Crest Tile Company (CTC), a small wholesale and retail tile business, prior to his marriage to Patricia Gillespie (defendant). Carl filed for divorce after 19 years of marriage. The trial court determined that CTC’s value was $52,000, $48,000 of which was attributable to a reasonable rate of return on Carl’s separate-property investments. The remaining $4,000 was allocated to the community for the community’s interest in CTC’s undistributed profits. The trial court determined the rate of return for Carl’s invested separate property based on the prevailing interest rate for business loans during the marriage, reasoning that CTC would have needed a capital loan to fund operations but for Carl’s investment. The trial court also determined that the $250,000 Carl withdrew from CTC during the marriage amounted to a reasonable salary for his labor. Patricia appealed, arguing that the community’s interest was undervalued and that the rate of return applied to Carl’s separate-property investments was unreasonable.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Stephenson, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 834,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
