Opinion
No. 40627
Decided July 19, 1967.
Banks and banking — Joint and survivorship accounts — Proof of ownership — Evidence to establish — Confidential relationship — Mother and daughter — Burden of proof.
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Portage County.
This is an action to determine ownership of deposits of money in three joint and survivorship savings accounts in the Portage County National Bank. The action was filed by Mary Ann Beaver, as exceptor, to contest the inclusion of the moneys in these savings accounts in the inventory of the estate of Josephine Svab by the administrator, with will annexed, of that estate.
The moneys in all the accounts were that of Josephine Svab. The first two accounts were opened for Josephine Svab by Mary Ann Beaver on December 5, 1963, and the signature cards on these accounts were signed only by Josephine Svab. On December 23, 1963, new signature cards for these accounts were submitted to the bank by Mary Ann Beaver. These cards were signed by both Josephine Svab and Mary Ann Beaver, making such accounts joint and survivorship accounts. The third account, also joint and survivorship, was opened on February 13, 1964, and the signature card filed for this account bore the signatures of both Josephine Svab and Mary Ann Beaver, although there was some question whether the signature of Josephine Svab appearing on the card was genuine.
Evidence at the hearing in the Probate Court revealed that Mary Ann Beaver was the daughter of Josephine Svab and that at the time the transactions occurred Josephine Svab was advanced in years and had some difficulty with her vision. Because of this, Josephine Svab, for some time prior to her death in May 1964, customarily relied on others to make out her checks which she herself would then sign. During the time when the deposits in question were made Mary Ann Beaver was the person upon whom Josephine Svab depended for check writing and assistance in other financial affairs.
The Probate Court ruled in favor of the administrator, holding that the bank by not making notations on the passbooks did not affirmatively accept two of the accounts and that the signature card on the third account was not signed by Josephine Svab.
The Court of Appeals affirmed that holding and held further that Mary Ann Beaver occupied a confidential relationship with her mother, and that a presumption of undue influence arose which was not rebutted. ( 8 Ohio App.2d 80.)
The cause is before this court following allowance of a motion to certify the record.
Mr. Robert Merkle and Mr. Verne L. Harris, for appellant.
Messrs. Summers Wilson and Mr. Harry L. Griffith, for appellee.
Appellant contends that in order to sustain the joint and survivorship character of a bank account the survivor need prove no more than full compliance with the rules of the bank. We agree with this proposition and therefore disagree with the rationale of the Court of Appeals as expressed in the first four paragraphs of its syllabus ( 8 Ohio App.2d 80). The accounts in this case were properly created with respect to form.
It does not necessarily follow, however, that the survivor is entitled to the balance of these accounts. As was stated in paragraph three of the syllabus in Fecteau v. Cleveland Trust Co., 171 Ohio St. 121, "the fact that a bank account is carried in the names of two persons jointly with right of survivorship is not always conclusive as to the ownership of the account, and, when a controversy arises as to the ownership of such account, evidence is admissible in a proper case to show the true situation." Stated differently, "* * * the form of the deposit should not be treated as conclusive on the subject of ownership and the door should be opened to evidence that the deposit was in truth made and maintained on a different basis. In other words, the `realities of ownership' may be shown." Union Properties, Inc., v. Cleveland Trust Co., 152 Ohio St. 430, 434 and 435.
When the exceptions to the inventory were filed a controversy arose and it became necessary that evidence be submitted to the court to establish the "realities of ownership." Such evidence as there was revealed that the transactions concerning the accounts were made for Josephine Svab by Mary Ann Beaver, that the money deposited in the accounts was that of Josephine Svab, and that at the time the joint accounts were created Josephine Svab was relying on her daughter to assist her in conducting her business affairs. There was no evidence of an intention on the part of Josephine Svab to create any personal interest in the accounts in favor of Mary Ann Beaver, who was only one of several children of Josephine Svab, other than the form on the bank signature cards, of which the decedent with her defective vision may have been completely unaware.
The logical inference from these facts is that the use of joint and survivorship accounts was merely a matter of convenience for Mary Ann Beaver, since she was acting in a capacity similar to that of a fiduciary for the decedent. This inference, combined with the fact that the party seeking to uphold the survivorship account is the plaintiff in this action and that the plaintiff was in such a close relationship with the decedent, justifies placing the burden upon Mary Ann Beaver to show that the decedent intended to transfer an interest in the accounts to her.
We believe that the bank signature cards by themselves do not constitute enough evidence of an intention on the part of Josephine Svab to provide an interest in the survivor to sustain the burden which the particular facts of this case have justified placing upon the plaintiff. Therefore, the conclusions of the Probate Court and the Court of Appeals in denying plaintiff's claim and in including the money in the accounts in the property of the estate were proper.
Judgment affirmed.
TAFT, C.J., ZIMMERMAN, TROOP, O'NEILL, HERBERT, SCHNEIDER and BROWN, JJ., concur.
TROOP, J., of the Tenth Appellate District, sitting for MATTHIAS, J.