Gregory Wayne Coon v. Victoria Jacobs Thomas

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals, Second Appellate District, Fort Worth, affirmed a trial court judgment nunc pro tunc concerning the division of retirement benefits in the parties’ 1996 divorce. The court held that deleting language concerning benefits from future employment and adding a February 15, 1996 temporal limitation corrected a clerical error because the divorce decree did not accurately reflect the prior rendition and related qualified domestic relations orders. The court also upheld the denial of Gregory Wayne Coon’s enforcement request and the award of attorney’s fees to Victoria Jacobs Thomas.

Holdings

1. The trial court properly used a judgment nunc pro tunc to delete the decree's reference to Thomas's future employment and limit the retirement-benefit division to employment as of the February 15, 1996 rendition date because the decree did not accurately record the judgment actually rendered.
2. The trial court did not err by refusing to enforce the decree's future-employment language because the judgment nunc pro tunc properly deleted that language as inconsistent with the judgment rendered.
3. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by awarding Thomas $15,392.50 in attorney's fees because the proceeding involved clarification and enforcement of a divorce property division and at least one statutory basis supported the award.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court's deletion of the decree's reference to Thomas's future employment and addition of a February 15, 1996 limitation corrected a clerical error or impermissibly corrected a judicial error after plenary power expired.
2. Whether the trial court erred by refusing to enforce the original decree's broader language concerning Thomas's retirement benefits.
3. Whether the trial court had a statutory basis to award Thomas attorney's fees in the clarification and enforcement proceedings.

Disposition

affirmed