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Pope Photo Records v. Malone

539 S.W.2d 224 (1976)

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Pope Photo Records v. Malone

Texas Court of Appeals
539 S.W.2d 224 (1976)

  • Written by Whitney Kamerzel , JD

Facts

James Malone was married to Roberta Malone (defendant). James had several life-insurance policies that named Roberta as the beneficiary. One life-insurance policy was created before the marriage, and the premiums were paid with James’s separate-property funds. Other policies were created during the marriage, and the premiums were paid for with community funds. Four years before his death, James took out a loan with Pope Photo Records, Inc. (Pope) (plaintiff). The life-insurance policies were not identified as collateral for the loan. After James died, Roberta did not identify the life-insurance policy proceeds as community property. The remaining community assets were insufficient to settle the debt owed to Pope, and so Pope sued Roberta to collect the life-insurance proceeds. Roberta did not know of the debt to Pope until after James’s death. There was also no evidence that Roberta or James was ever aware that existing community assets would not be enough to extinguish the debt to Pope. The trial court held that the life-insurance proceeds were Roberta’s separate property and could not be claimed by Pope. Pope appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Reynolds, J.)

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