Blanchard v. Blanchard

OPINION

BEVILACQUA, Chief Justice.

This case is before us on an appeal by the defendant from a summary judgment awarding the plaintiff partition of the marital property. We reverse.

The defendant, Dorothy Blanchard, has resided in the marital home since the 1961 final divorce decree pursuant to an oral property-division agreement. 1 This agreement was not reduced to writing. Subsequently, in 1964 plaintiff Paul Blanchard filed for partition of the property. The trial justice denied the petition, finding that an agreement between the parties existed and that defendant was entitled to the use of…