Hardy v. Hendrickson

495 P.2d 28, 27 Utah 2d 251, 1972 Utah LEXIS 956

• Court: Utah Supreme Court
• Decided: March 16, 1972
• Docket: 12354
• Status: Published

Opinions

ELLETT, Justice.

Bertha S. Hardy, hereinafter called the mother, died testate in April 1968, naming Edna Hardy Hendrickson, hereinafter called the daughter, as one of the executors of her estate. The daughter died in October 1968, but had filed an inventory in the estate of her mother prior to that time.

This suit was instituted to recover some stocks and bonds and some funds held in ostensible joint tenancy by the mother and the daughter.

All of the property originally belonged to the mother; but due to age and illness, the mother caused or permitted funds to be placed in joint accounts with the daughter. When the inventory was filed in the mother’s estate, the daughter did not claim the joint funds or the stocks and bonds as her own property but listed them as assets in the mother’s estate. It was after the death of the daughter that this dispute arose. James S. Hendrickson, the surviving husband of the daughter, now claims all of the stocks, bonds, and joint funds on behalf of himself and his children.

The trial court heard the testimony of the witnesses regarding the condition of the mother, including that of a doctor who testified to the physical and mental condition of the mother at and prior to the time of the creation of the so-called joint accounts. The court was aware of the law relating to joint tenancy accounts as laid down by this court in the case of Beehive State Bank v. Rosquist, 21 Utah 2d 17, 439 P.2d 468 (1968), wherein it was held:

It seems to us that what all of the recent cases in Utah have been trying to say is this:

If the contract between the parties ostensibly creates a joint tenancy relationship with full right of survivorship, there arises a presumption that such is the case unless and until some interested party shows under equitable rules that the contract should be reformed to show some other agreement of the parties or that the contract is not enforceable because of fraud, mistake, incapacity, or other infirmity.

We hold that the law is as above indicated.

The trial court made the following findings of fact:

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8. That the Court finds on the basis of clear and convincing evidence that the joint checking account in the Bountiful State Bank was opened for the sole purpose of allowing Edna Hendrickson to handle the business affairs of Bertha Hardy, her mother, and that Edna Hen-drickson made no claim of ownership by reason of the joint cards; that this would apply also to the Prudential Federal Savings & Loan account; that the Savings & Loan account was not opened by Mrs. Hardy as a joint account, but was opened by Mrs. Hendrickson with Mrs. Hardy’s funds; that this was meant to be no more than a method of obtaining greater interest on the monies, and that there is no evidence to indicate that Mrs. Hardy even knew it was being done.

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12. That the Court finds the evidence to be clear and convincing that Mrs. Edna Hendrickson was placed on Mrs. Hardy’s checking account for the sole purpose of assisting Mrs. Hardy in paying her obligations after she was partially paralyzed by a stroke and incapable of handling her own business affairs; that the funds in the Prudential Federal Savings & Loan Association are actually the funds of the checking account, and the placing of the name of Mrs. Edna Hendrickson on the Savings & Loan account was Mrs. Hen-drickson’s act only, and nothing indicates that Mrs. Hardy even knew her $5,000.00 was being used to open said account, and the Court finds that she did not know.

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The findings of the trial court are tantamount to a reformation of the joint tenancy agreements, and the evidence supports the findings.

As to the stocks and bonds, they were in the name of the mother, and the only claim of ownership by the defendant is based upon a shorthand note written by the daughter upon the envelope in which they were enclosed reading: “Mom gave these to me.” This self-serving writing is insufficient to transfer title.

On appeal the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to sustain the lower court, and the findings will not be disturbed unless they are clearly against the weight of the evidence or it manifestly appears that the court misapplied the law to the established facts. Shaw v. Jeppson, 121 Utah 155, 239 P.2d 745 (1952); Stanley v. Stanley, 97 Utah 520, 94 P.2d 465 (1939).

We are fortified in our belief that the trial court properly ruled in this matter by the fact that the daughter during her lifetime never made any claim to be the owner of the joint accounts or the stocks and bonds now in dispute.

The judgment is affirmed with costs awarded to the respondents.

TUCKETT and CROCKETT, JJ., concur.