Cases Involving ''Sworn Inventory and Appraisement'' In Texas

In Roosevelt v. Roosevelt, 699 S.W.2d 372, 374 (Tex.App. - El Paso 1985, writ dism'd), the wife filed an inventory and appraisement listing some jewelry as her separate property and some jewelry as community property. The court of appeals held that the trial court could not characterize all the jewelry as separate property and that the wife could not have introduced evidence to support such a characterization because her sworn assertions in the inventory and appraisement prevented her from claiming all of the jewelry as her separate property. Tschirhart v. Tschirhart, 876 S.W.2d 507, 509 n. 1 (Tex. App. - Austin 1994, no writ) held that a party challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to support the trial court's division of property could not rely on his sworn inventory and appraisement that was filed with the trial court but was not admitted into evidence. The Tschirhart court did state in a footnote that an inventory, like a pleading, could not be used as evidence to support a positive assertion by a party on appeal but could be used to estop that party from challenging his prior admission. Tschirhart v. Tschirhart, supra; see also Poulter v. Poulter, 565 S.W.2d 107, 110 (Tex.Civ.App. - Tyler 1978, no writ); Bokhoven v. Bokhoven, 559 S.W.2d 142, 144 (Tex.Civ.App. - Tyler 1977, no writ). Judicial admissions estop the party who made them from challenging their truth. Five conditions must occur before a party's admission is conclusive against him: (1) the declaration relied upon must have been made in the course of a judicial proceeding; (2) the declaration was contrary to an essential fact embraced in the theory of recovery or defense asserted by the party; (3) the statement was deliberate, clear, and unequivocal; (4) giving conclusive effect to the declaration would not run contrary to public policy; (5) the declaration related to a fact upon which a judgment for the opposing party was based. Griffin v. Superior Insurance Company, 161 Tex. 195, 338 S.W.2d 415, 419 (Tex. 1960); United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Carr, 242 S.W.2d 224, 229 (Tex.Civ.App. - San Antonio 1951, writ ref'd).