Kanz v. Wilson

703 So. 2d 1331, 1997 WL 722774
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 17, 1997
Docket96 CA 0882
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 703 So. 2d 1331 (Kanz v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kanz v. Wilson, 703 So. 2d 1331, 1997 WL 722774 (La. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

703 So.2d 1331 (1997)

Jack A. KANZ, Independent Executor of the Estate of Lena Kanz, Deceased,
v.
Edna Bell Kanz WILSON.

No. 96 CA 0882.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 17, 1997.
Rehearing Denied January 8, 1998.

*1333 John David Ziober, Baton Rouge, for Plaintiff/Appellee Jack A. Kanz, Independent Executor of the estate of Lena Kanz, Deceased.

Richard A. Curry, Baton Rouge, for Defendant/Appellant Edna Belle Kanz Wilson.

Before GONZALES and KUHN, and CHIASSON [1], J. Pro Tem.

KUHN, Judge.

This appeal arises from a dispute regarding the ownership of two certificates of deposit ("CDs") and other cash funds. Defendant-appellant, Edna Belle Kanz Wilson, appeals from a partial summary judgment in favor of plaintiff-appellee, Jack A. Kanz, the independent executor ("executor") of the estate of Lena Kanz, which declared the estate to be the owner of the CDs and the cash funds.[2] We affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Mr. Kanz, in his capacity as executor of the estate, sought a judgment against Wilson declaring certain funds to be the property of the estate and awarding the full amount of the funds to Kanz as executor.[3] The assets involved in this litigation include four CDs and accumulated interest, with the original amount of the four CDs being in excess of $300,000.00. Two of the CDs were originally issued in Louisiana and these funds remain on deposit in Louisiana ("the Louisiana CDs"). The other two were originally issued in Illinois ("the Illinois CDs").

The funds of the LaSalle Talman Bank CD (one of the Illinois CDs), originally issued in the amount of $74,314.38, remain on deposit in Illinois ("the LaSalle Talman Account"). Upon Mrs. Wilson's request after Ms. Kanz's death, the funds from the other Illinois CD (issued by the First National Bank of Chicago and totaling $93,800.76) were sent to Mrs. Wilson upon maturity on March 21, 1994. Those funds were deposited into an account in the Bayou Federal Credit Union in Louisiana ("the Bayou Federal Account").

Also at issue in this dispute is the ownership of $40,000.00 on deposit in a credit union account bearing the name of Edna Wilson and her husband, Kenneth Wilson. These funds were transferred from a joint checking account in the names of Lena Kanz or Edna Wilson to the credit union account prior to Ms. Kanz's death ("the Transferred Funds"). The parties also dispute the ownership of $10,921.78, representing cash funds withdrawn from the LaSalle Talman CD, which *1334 the Wilsons used to finance a trip ("the Trip Funds").[4]

On October 18, 1994, Mr. Kanz filed a motion for partial summary judgment seeking an award of the full amount of the two Louisiana CDs and all interest which had accrued on the Louisiana CDs since the death of Ms. Kanz. Mr. Kanz asserted that: 1) Wilson claimed ownership by virtue of donations pursuant to the creation of the CDs as joint tenancies with right of survivorship; and 2) the purported donations were invalid because an authentic act is required for the donation of incorporeal immovables (the CDs) pursuant to La. C.C. art. 1536.

On November 14, 1994, Wilson filed a motion for summary judgment asserting there were no genuine issues of material fact with respect to the ownership of three CDs, the Illinois CDs and one of the Louisiana CDs. Ms. Wilson asserted that: 1) the CDs were created as joint tenancies with the right of survivorship between Mrs. Wilson and Ms. Kanz, and that upon Ms. Kanz's death, Mrs. Wilson owned the CDs;[5] and 2) because Mrs. Kanz was a Texas domiciliary at the time of her death and Mrs. Kanz's succession had been opened in Texas, the disposition of the CD's should be governed by Texas law. Mrs. Wilson has never argued that the donations would be valid under Louisiana law.

After a hearing on February 24, 1995, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff on both pending motions. The trial court found Ms. Kanz was domiciled in Louisiana at the time of her death and applied Louisiana law to determine ownership of the Louisiana CDs. A written judgment in favor of Mr. Kanz was signed on March 2, 1995 ("the first summary judgment"). The trial court declared the estate to be the owner of the Louisiana CDs, and ordered Mrs. Wilson to immediately turn over to Mr. Kanz the possession and ownership of the Louisiana CD accounts.

Mrs. Wilson devolutively appealed the March 2, 1995 judgment. After the appeal order was granted on April 6, 1995, the parties filed with the district court a joint motion to supplement the record of the February 24, 1995 hearing with evidence which had not been introduced or filed into the trial court record. The trial court ordered the supplementation of the record. On appeal, this court found the supplementation was improper. After concluding that the evidence in the record was insufficient to support a judgment in plaintiff's favor, the March 2, 1995 judgment granting Mr. Kanz's motion for summary judgment pertaining to the Louisiana CDs was reversed. Kanz v. Wilson, 95-1824 (La.App. 1st Cir. 4/4/96) (unpublished). The matter was remanded for further proceedings.

On March 2, 1995, Mr. Kanz filed another motion for summary judgment. Pursuant to this motion, Mr. Kanz sought a judgment declaring the estate to be the owner of the Illinois CD accounts, the Transferred Funds, and the Trip Funds. Mr. Kanz asserted that: 1) the purported donations of the CDs were invalid because Ms. Kanz had not executed an authentic act donating the CDs to Mrs. Wilson; 2) defendant failed to produce any document evidencing a donation of the Trip Funds; and 3) Mrs. Wilson admitted the Transferred Funds were property of Ms. Kanz but refused to turn over the funds to Mr. Kanz.

In opposition to the motion for summary judgment, Mrs. Wilson acknowledged that the donations were not made in authentic form and would not be valid under Louisiana law. However, Mrs. Wilson asserted that 1) Mr. Kanz had judicially admitted that Ms. Kanz was domiciled in Texas, and 2) Louisiana law does not control the validity of these transactions.

After determining that Ms. Kanz was domiciled in Louisiana, that Louisiana law *1335 controlled the issue of the validity of the donations, and that the donations were not valid pursuant to Louisiana law, the trial court granted Mr. Kanz's motion for summary judgment. The April 25, 1995 judgment ("the second summary judgment") 1) declared the estate to be the owner of the Bayou Federal Account, the LaSalle Talman Account, and the interest, income or dividends which have accumulated or which have been paid on or from the accounts from January 22, 1994, through the date all funds are delivered to Mr. Kanz; 2) ordered Mrs. Wilson to provide an accounting for these funds and to turn them over to Mr. Kanz; and 3) ordered that there be judgment in favor of Mr. Kanz and against Mrs. Wilson in the amount of $50,921.78 (the amount of the Trip Funds and the Transferred Funds).

Mrs. Wilson has appealed[6] raising the following specifications of error:

1. The trial court was divested of jurisdiction to consider the second summary judgment while the first summary judgment—raising the identical legal issue (choice of law) and the identical factual issue (the decedent's domicile)—was pending on appeal.
2. The trial court erred in finding that Lena Kanz was domiciled in Louisiana at the time of her death. The Executor judicially confessed that Lena Kanz was domiciled in Texas at the time of her death.

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Bluebook (online)
703 So. 2d 1331, 1997 WL 722774, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kanz-v-wilson-lactapp-1997.