Ponzio v. Ponzio, No. 03-23-00336-CV (Tex. App. – Austin 6/27/2025)(mem. op.) is a June 2025 decision from the Austin Court of Appeals that interpreted the older reimbursement statute that was totally overhauled in 2023. However, some of this case’s rulings apply to newer cases brought under the new reimbursement statute.
This opinion holds:
- The wife was not entitled to reimbursement for the labor and expenditures made by her parents to fix up the husband’s separate property house for sale.
- The wife was not entitled to reimbursement for spending $18,583.70 of her inheritance to remodel a community property house. The court notes that the measure of such a “fund expended” reimbursement claim is the enhancement of value in the asset belonging to the other estate. This is true still under the new reimbursement statute. The award in wife’s favor was reversed because she presented no evidence of how much her expenditure increased the value of the home.