Hartman v. Crain

398 S.W.2d 387, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 2999
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 13, 1966
Docket14692
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 398 S.W.2d 387 (Hartman v. Crain) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hartman v. Crain, 398 S.W.2d 387, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 2999 (Tex. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

COLEMAN, Justice.

This is a suit for partition of the estate of Morris Kuhlmann, deceased, brought by the guardian of his surviving wife against his independent executrix, who is also the sole devisee under his will. The principal question to be determined is the ownership of funds deposited in the First City National Bank which Annie Hartman claims to own by virtue of a survivorship agreement. Appellee contends that, of the funds in the account, the sum of $5,927.55 constitutes the separate property of her ward and that the balance was community property of Lula Kuhlmann and Morris Kuhl-mann. The trial court so found and awarded appellee $5,927.55 as her separate property together with one-half of the remainder.

In 1941 Morris Kuhlmann and his wife, Lula Kuhlman, established Account No. 13980 in the First National Bank in Houston and in connection therewith signed the bank’s joint checking account form: “The First National Bank in Houston, Houston, Texas, is hereby authorized to recognize either of the signatures below in the payment of funds or the transaction of any other business. Either one or both or the survivor of the parties whose signatures appear hereon may sign checks for withdrawal or for the transaction of other business. The signature of either one shall be sufficient for withdrawal of all or any part of the fund standing to the credit of this account. * * ⅜ ” The account was continued in the First City National Bank of Houston under the same signature card.

On October 29, 1956, the sum of $500.00, which Mrs. Kuhlmann inherited, was deposited in this account. Thereafter she received from the same estate the sums of $3,457.42 and $4,170.13, which were deposited in the account on November 5, 1956, and February 26, 1957, respectively. The balance in this account never was less than $8,127.55 during its existence.

On January 24, 1962, the sum of $13,-311.66 was withdrawn from the account and placed in a new account in the name of M. C. Kuhlmann or Mrs. Annie Hart-mann under an agreement constituting it a joint account with right of survivorship. After this withdrawal only $250.00 was left in the first account. The Kuhlmann-Hart-mann account never fell below the amount of $8,127.55 during the lifetime of Mr. Kuhlmann or until the account was closed on June 27, 1963, and the sum of $8,992.64 transferred into an account in the name of the Estate of Morris C. Kuhlmann by Mrs. Annie Hartmann, Independent Executrix.

Mr. Kuhlmann died May 6, 1963. Mrs. Kuhlmann suffered from hardening of the arteries and was adjudicated non compos mentis June 12,. 1963. Mrs. Hartmann is the sister of Mr. Kuhlmann and Mrs. Crain is the sister of Mrs. Kuhlmann. In November of 1961, Mrs. Kuhlmann’s condition became such that she required special care, and Mrs. Crain took her into her home under an agreement with Mr. Kuhl-mann whereby he paid her $100.00 each month plus the necessary medical expenses. After Mr. Kuhlmann’s death, the estate paid to Mrs. Crain for Mrs. Kuhlmann’s maintenance the sum of $2,477.53. It. appears, therefore, that at the time the Kuhl-mann-Hartmann account was established Mrs. Kuhlmann was disabled to the extent that she needed special care, but that she had not been adjudicated non compos men-tis.

The First City National Bank was named as a defendant in the Plaintiff’s Petition. The bank responded by alleging that it was only a stakeholder and tendered the funds *389 on deposit, $6,358.57, into court. The court discharged the bank, allowing attorney’s fees in the sum of $350.00 payable from the fund.

It is clear that of the funds on deposit in the joint account of Mr. and Mrs. Kuhl-mann, the sum of $8,127.55 was the separate property of Mrs. Kuhlmann. There is no evidence that she had withdrawn any money from the account and the balance in the account exceeded that figure at all times prior to opening of the Kuhlmann-Hartmann account. There is sufficient evidence to trace these funds into the estate account, which was deposited in court by the bank. Sibley v. Sibley, Tex.Civ.App., 286 S.W.2d 657, writ dism.; United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. First National Bank of Fort Worth, Tex.Civ. App., 81 S.W.2d 213, writ dism.

There can be no presumption of a gift to Mr. Kuhlmann from the fact that Mrs. Kuhlmann’s inheritance was placed in their joint account. Tison v. Gass, 46 Tex.Civ.App. 163, 102 S.W. 751, writ ref.; Ralls v. Ralls, Tex.Civ.App., 256 S.W. 688, writ dism., w. o. j. The agreement appears to be one for the protection of the bank in case of unauthorized withdrawals, rather than an agreement creating rights as between the depositors, and does not evidence a gift of an interest in the funds to be deposited. Krueger v. Williams, 163 Tex. 545, 359 S.W.2d 48.

Nor was the withdrawal of the money from the bank account as authorized by the deposit agreement and the subsequent deposit of the same money in the Kuhlmann-Hartmann account, effective to defeat the title to the funds held by Mrs. Kuhlmann. In 1887, when by statute the husband had sole management of the wife’s separate property, as well as of the community, the Supreme Court of Texas, in Richardson v. Hutchins, 68 Tex. 81, 89, 3 S.W. 276, held that the husband would be considered a trustee for the wife in managing her separate estate, and held to the duties and liabilities which ordinarily attach to that relation. The Court stated:

“The rule is that every trustee is liable for the diversion of a trust fund, and upon the death of the trustee this liability rests upon his legal representative, and must be satisfied out of such funds in his hands as are subject to the payment of the claims of creditors generally. That the husband is made a trustee by operation of law does not change the rule.”

In Kemp v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., U.S.Ct. of App., 5th Cir., 205 F.2d 857, the Court carefully reviewed the Texas authorities relating to gifts made by the husband of community property. In the opinion the Court says:

“Both parties concede the validity of the principle announced in a very early decision of the Supreme Court of Texas, Stramler v. Coe, 15 Tex. 211, 215, that,

“ ‘No consent of the wife is necessary to a valid alienation of such [community], property by the husband. But excessive or capricious donations and sales, made with the intent to defraud the wife, would be void; and she would be entitled to her action against the property of the husband and against third possessors.’

“Naming a third person, to whom no obligation is owed, as beneficiary and paying the premiums with community funds amounts to a gift of the community property, Martin v. Moran, 11 Tex.Civ.App. 509, 32 S.W. 904, 905; 1 de Funiak, Principles of Community Property, Sec. 79, p. 214, Sec. 123, p. 353; Speer, Law of Marital Rights in Texas, Sec. 150, pp. 203, 204, Notes 11, 12.

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Bluebook (online)
398 S.W.2d 387, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 2999, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hartman-v-crain-texapp-1966.