Frank C. Garcia, Jr. v. Emily Ann Mills (f/k/a Emily Ann Garcia)--Appeal from 150th Judicial District Court of Bexar County
Annotate this CaseCONCURRING OPINION
No. 04-02-00790-CV
Frank C. GARCIA, Jr.
Appellant
v.
Emily Ann MILLS, f/k/a Emily Ann Garcia,
Appellee
From the 150th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas
Trial Court No. 1980-CI-03877
Honorable Patrick J. Boone, Judge Presiding
Opinion by: Sarah B. Duncan, Justice
Concurring opinion by: Sandee Bryan Marion, Justice
Sitting: Catherine Stone, Justice
Sarah B. Duncan, Justice
Sandee Bryan Marion, Justice
Delivered and Filed: August 13, 2003
I concur in the judgment because of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Reiss v. Reiss. I write separately, however, because I agree with the dissent in Reiss. I believe the dissent is correct when it states that, when construing a decree, we must look at the decree as a whole. See Reiss v. Reiss, No. 01-0251, 2002 WL 32122828, *4 (Tex. June 26, 2003) (Jefferson, J., dissenting). Here, the Agreement Incident to Divorce states clearly that "All provisions of this section are intended to effect only the partition of the community property." (Emphasis added.) This provision must be read together with the award to Mills of "twenty-five (25%) percent of the Husband's civil service retirement benefits, if[,] as, and when he receives the same." The portion of the retirement benefits accruing after the divorce is Garcia's separate property and, in my opinion, it is unreasonable to conclude that the decree awards Mills part of his separate property. However, because we are bound by Supreme Court decisions, I concur.
Sandee Bryan Marion, Justice
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.