Estate of McConnell v. McConnell

694 P.2d 982, 71 Or. App. 795
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJanuary 23, 1985
DocketA8107-04465; CA A27844
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 694 P.2d 982 (Estate of McConnell v. McConnell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of McConnell v. McConnell, 694 P.2d 982, 71 Or. App. 795 (Or. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinions

NEWMAN, J.

The estate of Jennie McConnell and her son Lloyd McConnell, plaintiffs, appeal from a judgment which declared that defendants own the principal sum of $58,405.95 which, at or before Jennie’s death, was in four joint accounts in the name of Jennie McConnell and defendant Fay McConnell or the survivor.1 On the appeal we modify the judgment to require that defendants pay to plaintiffs estate the sum of $55,769.40 with interest. Defendants cross-appeal from the [798]*798judgment that declared that the estate owns the principal sum of $43,395.20 from the pre-death sale of Jennie’s Portland residence.2 We modify the judgment to reduce that principal sum to $22,071.

Jennie’s will, executed in 1960, named her two sons, Fay and Lloyd, as equal beneficiaries. Between 1972 and 1974, she opened the four joint accounts. In 1973, she also established an account at Pacific First Federal Savings & Loan in her name as trustee for Fay and Lloyd, as beneficiaries. Before Jennie’s death, Fay made no contribution of his own funds to any of the accounts.

Jennie’s health was good until 1978. In July 1979, she went into the hospital. In August 1979, she entered a nursing home in Portland. She was hospitalized for ten days in February 1980, returned to the nursing home until September 1980, was again hospitalized for three weeks and then returned to the nursing home until her death on February 5, 1981, at the age of 90. She had remained mentally alert until near the end of January 1981.

Fay and his wife, Peggy, live in Seaside. Jennie’s husband, the father of Fay and Lloyd, died in 1972. Thereafter, Fay visited Jennie in Portland two or three times a month and took care of house repairs, yard maintenance and some shopping. After she became ill in 1978, he visited weekly and sometimes as often as four or five times a week. Lloyd visited Jennie monthly while he lived in Portland. In 1978 he moved to Rockaway, where he owned and operated a tavern, and then he visited Jennie only occasionally.

In August 1979, Jennie gave Fay a power of attorney to sell her home and handle her other affairs. At that time, [799]*799Fay’s attorney advised him to use the funds in the joint accounts only for Jennie’s care. Plaintiffs contend that Fay thereafter made withdrawals from the accounts for his personal use. At Jennie’s death two of the joint accounts were still in existence.3 On March 7, 1980, using the power of attorney (and, according to his testimony, following Jennie’s instructions), Fay withdrew the balance of $8,028.94 from the trustee account. He deposited $6,000 in a joint savings account with Jennie at First National Bank and the remaining $2,028.94 in an account in his own name. Fay withdrew the $6,000 from the joint account before Jennie’s death, and none of the funds from the trustee account were in the joint accounts at her death. Fay does not challenge that part of the court’s judgment which declared that Jennie’s estate should receive the $8,028.94 that he took from the trustee account.

Fay used the power of attorney to sell Jennie’s home, and on June 25,1980, he received $43,395.20 as proceeds from that sale. Defendants assert in their cross-appeal that the court should not have declared that that money belongs to the estate. Of those funds, $14,395.20 was in the joint savings account at First National Bank at the time of Jennie’s death.4

There are three principal, interrelated questions:

(1) Do the balances in the two joint accounts existing at Jennie’s death belong to Fay?

(2) Must Fay return to the estate any sums he withdrew from the four joint accounts for his personal use before Jennie’s death?

(3) Do the proceeds, or any portion of them, from the sale of Jennie’s residence belong to the estate?

Our review is de novo.

[800]*800Initially, we conclude that the balances in the two joint accounts at Jennie’s death belong to Fay,5 other than proceeds from the sale of Jennie’s house that we discuss infra at 10.

In Williams v. Mallory, 284 Or 397, 587 P2d 85 (1978), the court quoted approvingly from Wellman, The Joint and Survivor Account in Michigan - Progress Through Confusion, 63 Mich L Rev, 629, 645 (1965):

“ * * [P]eople who use joint and survivorship accounts usually intend the survivorship benefits they express. When such an account is intact at the donor depositor’s death, the estate of the donor, if unable to show fraud, undue influence, or lack of capacity, will probably not prevail if all it can show is that a reason other than to confer benefits at death attended the opening of the account. Probably it must also be shown that it would have been capricious or highly unusual for the decedent to have wanted the death benefits to go to the survivor in light of the decedent’s circumstances, the pattern of his family relationships, and the terms of his other testamentary directions.’ ” 284 Or at 401.

There is no evidence that Jennie created the joint accounts as the result of undue influence, lack of capacity or fraud; neither was it capricious or highly unusual for Jennie to have wanted those accounts to belong to Fay at her death. Therefore, we look to the evidence to find the intent of the parties at the time the account was established. Plaintiffs have the burden of proving that Jennie intended that the money in the joint accounts pass to the estate. Williams v. Mallory, supra, 284 Or at 402.

Fay testified that, shortly before his father’s death, his parents called him to come over to their house. His father said, “You better go now to your mother.” He went with his mother to the banks and changed the account cards on two of the savings accounts so that they were joint accounts with Jennie and Fay. Fay testified that he was surprised when his [801]*801name was put on the accounts and that he did not know the amount of money in the accounts until 1974. Peggy testified that Jennie’s husband had been ill and the two of them wanted the accounts in Jennie’s name with Fay. She testified that “[Jennie’s husband] wanted it done specially.” Jennie’s establishment of the trustee account in 1973 and designation of both sons as beneficiaries is also some evidence that she intended Fay to be the sole owner of the four joint accounts if he survived her.

Plaintiffs presented no evidence that Jennie intended that the funds in the accounts that represent deposits made by her should pass to her estate instead of to Fay. Plaintiffs have not met their burden of showing that, other than proceeds from the sale of Jennie’s house which we discuss infra at 10, the money remaining in the joint accounts at Jennie’s death should pass to plaintiff estate instead of to defendants.

Lloyd claims that Fay withdrew the following sums from the joint accounts for his personal use before Jennie’s death:

1) $ 2,000.00 from First National savings account on 8/8/79

2) 350.00 from First National savings account on 9/27/79

3) 864.79 from First National checking account on 1/80

4) 3,020.00 from First National checking account on 4/80-1/81

5) 2,028.94 from Pacific First Federal savings account on 3/7/80

6) 5,000.00 from First National savings account on 6/25/80

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Bluebook (online)
694 P.2d 982, 71 Or. App. 795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-mcconnell-v-mcconnell-orctapp-1985.