Druyvestein v. Summit Brokerage Services, Inc.

375 S.W.3d 777, 2010 Ark. App. 500, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 526
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedJune 16, 2010
DocketNo. CA 09-921
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 375 S.W.3d 777 (Druyvestein v. Summit Brokerage Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Druyvestein v. Summit Brokerage Services, Inc., 375 S.W.3d 777, 2010 Ark. App. 500, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 526 (Ark. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

COURTNEY HUDSON HENRY, Judge.

| Appellant Terry Druyvestein appeals the order entered by the Circuit Court of Sebastian County dismissing his complaint that sought the creation of a constructive trust. For reversal, appellant contends that the circuit court’s decision is clearly erroneous. We find merit in this argument and reverse and remand.

The record reflects that H.J. “Humpy” Druyvestein died on February 24, 2007, survived by his wife, appellee Lois Druyve-stein. Appellant is the son of Humpy’s deceased brother. During his life, Humpy held two bond accounts at Morgan Stanley that were managed by his broker, Donna Young. One account was payable at Hum-py’s death to appellant, while the other was payable upon his death to the daughter of his second wife, Sue Rose, and her son, John Rose. In early January 2004, Young left Morgan Stanley and moved to a firm called Delta Financial, where she operated as a broker for appellee Summit 12Brokerage Services, Inc. (Summit). Humpy transferred the two bond accounts from Morgan Stanley to Delta Financial on January 28, 2004. In so doing, Humpy executed a registration application for an account ending in the number 8136, designating appellant as the beneficiary of the account upon Humpy’s death. Humpy completed a similar document for an account ending in the number 8134, naming Lois as the death beneficiary of that account.

In July 2004, Humpy executed a registration application that changed the transfer-on-death designation of the 8136 account to Lois. However, until months after Humpy’s death, the 8136 account remained entitled “H.J. Druyvestein TOD Terry Druyvestein.” According to Young, even though her signature appeared on the document changing the beneficiary of the 8136 account to Lois, she was oblivious to the alteration, and, when Humpy died, she advised both Lois and appellant to wait until October 2007 to liquidate the accounts in order to receive full par value. Lois did not accept that advice and cashed in the 8134 account in April 2007. Appellant intended to heed Young’s advice, and Young established an account for him to receive the funds in October. However, Summit dishonored the request to transfer the funds in the 8136 account to appellant after discovering the July 2004 registration application that named Lois as the transfer-on-death beneficiary. On August 28, 2007, Michael Hill, an executive vice president and the chief compliance officer at Summit, wrote Lois a letter stating that the 8136 account should have been changed to reflect her name as the transfer-on-death beneficiary as of July 2004 and that steps were being taken to accomplish that correction.

|oOn October 24, 2007, appellant filed suit against Summit and Lois seeking to establish a constructive trust in the 8136 account. As a result of the litigation, Summit froze the account. Later, the parties proposed and the circuit court entered an agreed order dismissing Summit from the lawsuit with prejudice. The case proceeded to trial against Lois, who was unable to attend due to poor health.

In his testimony, appellant stated that his father and Humpy worked together and were close brothers. He said that he now lived in Montana and that he arranged a family reunion in 2002 where he met Lois, Humpy’s new wife. Appellant said that Humpy called him in 2003 and said that he had a bond that he wanted to leave him when he died. He testified that they briefly discussed the bond again in July 2004 at another family reunion and that Humpy said nothing to him about removing his name from the bond. Appellant said that he visited Humpy and Lois in 2006 and that Humpy spoke of the bond and also about leaving him a chair that had belonged to his grandfather. He testified that, when Humpy left the room, Lois told him that he could thank her for putting the bond in his name.

Appellant testified that he spoke to Lois after Humpy’s funeral and that she asked him if he had cashed the bond. He said that Lois advised him to get the money before John Rose did. Appellant stated that he decided to wait until October 2007 to cash the bond in order to receive full value. He said that he learned that there was a problem in September 2007 when he received a letter stating that Lois’s name was on the final TOD form. Appellant testified that he telephoned Lois and spoke to her daughter, Linda Van Divner, because Lois |4was in the hospital. He said that Linda told him that Summit must have made a mistake. Appellant called Linda a few weeks later, and she referred him to Lois’s attorney.

Appellant testified that Humpy’s intentions were clear and that he must have signed the July 2004 TOD form by mistake. He said that Humpy could not have realized that his name had been removed from the account because he had talked to Humpy many times since the change occurred.

Loretta Druyvestein, appellant’s wife, testified that she was a witness to the conversation between Humpy and appellant about the bond at the reunion in July 2004. She said that Lois did not contradict Humpy’s statements that he wanted appellant to have the bond. Loretta testified that she spoke with Linda after the mistake was discovered and that Linda acknowledged that the bond was supposed to go to appellant. She also recalled the visit in 2006 when Humpy spoke about the bond at the kitchen table.

Young testified that she had serviced Humpy’s accounts since 1998 and that from 2004 to 2007 she met with Humpy and Lois at least four times a year. She said that Lois was present when the accounts were transferred in January 2004 when Humpy made his wishes known that he wanted to keep appellant as the death beneficiary on the one account and that he wanted Lois to be the death beneficiary on the other account, instead of Sue and John Rose. Young testified that Humpy never indicated that he wanted appellant removed as the death beneficiary and that it was always her understanding, Humpy’s understanding, and Lois’s understanding that appellant was to receive the 8136 account at Humpy’s death. She said that IsHumpy received separate monthly statements on both accounts and that one would have been titled “H.J. Druyvestein TOD Terry Druyvestein,” while the other would have read “H.J. Druyvestein TOD Lois Druyvestein.” Young stated that the designations would have been obvious to anyone who would have viewed the envelope. She testified that, in the many meetings she had with Humpy and Lois after July 2004, Lois never questioned why appellant’s name still appeared on the account. Young stated that, when Lois contacted her about Humpy’s death, Lois did not inquire about the 8136 account and that Lois never asked why she was not receiving the monthly statements regarding the 8136 account following Humpy’s death.

Young further testified that Humpy did not ask her to change the death beneficiary on the account in July 2004. She said that she had no doubt whatsoever that Humpy never wanted to remove appellant from the 8136 account. Young said that, if Humpy had asked her to change the beneficiary to Lois, she would have simply moved the assets from the 8136 account to Lois’s 8134 account rather than have Hum-py execute a change in beneficiary form. Young asserted that the execution of the form was a mistake. She said that, had the title of the account been changed as it should have been when the form was completed, then both she and Humpy would have been alerted about the mistake and that it could have been corrected. She had no recollection as to why the change in beneficiary form was executed.

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Related

Franklin v. Waldron Nursing Center, Inc.
2017 Ark. App. 449 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2017)
Druyvestein v. Gean
2014 Ark. App. 559 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
375 S.W.3d 777, 2010 Ark. App. 500, 2010 Ark. App. LEXIS 526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/druyvestein-v-summit-brokerage-services-inc-arkctapp-2010.