Kinney v. Ewing

492 P.2d 636, 83 N.M. 365
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 7, 1972
Docket9281
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 492 P.2d 636 (Kinney v. Ewing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kinney v. Ewing, 492 P.2d 636, 83 N.M. 365 (N.M. 1972).

Opinion

OPINION

STEPHENSON, Justice.

• Appellee (“Plaintiff”) sought a declara■tory judgment regarding the rights of the parties with respect to certain securities ("the Securities”) in the names of the parties as joint tenants and to a related bank account. From a judgment declaring plaintiff to be the sole owner of .these assets, appellant (“defendant”) appeals. We affirm.

' InT944'Charles'Milton Kinney died, survived by his wife (plaintiff) and his .daughter (defendant).- His will left all his -property to plaintiff. At the- time- of Mr. Kinney’s 'death,- plaintiff and decedent •owned their residence in their joint names. Plaintiff sold the residence and with the proceeds, of the sale made the first purchase of the Securities in December of 1945. Plaintiff, being concerned about the well-being of defendant who was then a minor, consulted a friend and bank officer about what to do with her money from the sale of the residence. He advised her to register the stock certificate for the first purchase of the Securities in the joint names of plaintiff and defendant as joint tenants with right of survivorship so that the shares ■ would go to defendant upon plaintiff’s death without probate. She followed his advice.

Thereafter, plaintiff bought and sold various other corporate securities. Some were registered in plaintiff’s name alone while others were registered in plaintiff’s and defendant’s names as joint tenants! Whenever plaintiff sold any of the Securities registered in joint tenancy, she had to obtain defendant’s signature on the certificates or on stock powers. On one occasion part of the Securities were pledged by the parties as security for a bank loan for the benefit of defendant’s husband. In 1960 plaintiff commenced purchasing the Securities in another mutual fund. Of these, she made numerous separate purchases with her last purchase taking place in December of 1967. All of the stock certificates acquired from these purchases were similarly registered in joint tenancy.

During the 22-year period over which the Securities were purchased, defendant’s name. changed from her maiden name of Curtiss Kinney to her first married name and then to her present married name. To keep the Securities correctly registered, plaintiff took the necessary steps to reregister the Securities so that the stock certificates for the Securities all ultimately appeared in defendant’s present name. Plaintiff’s own funds provided the source for the purchase of all the Securities.

Starting-in 1946, plaintiff kept the stock certificates for the Securities in a safe deposit box which was rented in the name of plaintiff and defendant. In 1955 a new rental agreement for the same safe deposit box was signed by both plaintiff and defendant. In spite of equal access to the safe deposit box under the new rental agreement, plaintiff kept the keys to it and was the only one who ever entered it.

Checks for dividends and other distributions on the Securities were always made payable to plaintiff and defendant as joint tenants with right of survivorship. They were mailed to plaintiff and she deposited them in a joint bank account in the names of plaintiff and defendant. The first record of such a joint bank account appears on a signature card in 1950. In 1955 a new joint bank account signature card was signed by plaintiff and defendant which replaced the one of 1950. Both signature cards were signed by both parties and provided that the funds on deposit in the account were owned by the parties as joint tenants and that either party could withdraw all or any part of the account. Plaintiff kept a checkbook for the joint bank account and was the only party who withdrew any funds from it. Plaintiff also paid all income taxes arising from dividends on the Securities.

During 1967 relations between plaintiff and defendant deteriorated. Plaintiff, without the knowledge of defendant, had the joint bank account changed to her name alone and had defendant’s name can-celled from the safe deposit box rental agreement. In spite of the name change, plaintiff continued to deposit dividend checks paid on the Securities in the bank account, either without any endorsement at all or by endorsing both her name and defendant’s name on the checks.

In 1968 plaintiff attempted to sell some of the Securities without the prior knowledge of defendant. When defendant learned about it through the parties’ mutual stockbroker, she refused to sign the necessary stock powers. Several days later, defendant went to the bank and attempted to withdraw all the funds on deposit in the account and was refused by the bank because of its name change. Defendant, through counsel, then demanded partition of the Securities. Plaintiff refused and instituted this action.

With respect to the Securities, the court found the facts to be generally as we have stated them. Most importantly, it also found: (1) that due to plaintiff’s exclusive dealings with the Securities, there was no delivery of them from plaintiff to defendant; and (2) that the registration of the Securities by plaintiff in joint tenancy did not manifest any intention on her part to make a present gift to defendant, but only indicated her intention to have the Securities pass to defendant upon plaintiff’s death. Consequently, the court concluded that plaintiff had made no completed gift and that the Securities were “owned by plaintiff as her sole property and defendant has no right, title or interest therein or thereto.”

As to the funds on deposit in the bank account, the court found the facts also to be generally as we have stated them. Most importantly, it found that plaintiff, because of her exclusive dealings with the account, had no intention of making a present 'gift to defendant of any funds in the account, but rather intended to retain sole control over the funds until her death, at which time plaintiff intended for defendant to receive any funds remaining in the account. Consequently, the cottrt found that neither had there been a completed gift of these funds nor did defendant have any “right or interest therein or thereto.”

The basic question presented is whether a valid gift was made and completed. The elements of a valid gift were stated in Lusk v. Daugherty, 61 N.M. 196, 297 P.2d 333 (1956) and are:

“1. Property subject to gift.
2. A donor competent to make the gift.
3. A donation intent on the part of the donor, not induced by force or fraud.
4. Delivery to the donee.
5. Acceptance by a competent donee.
6. A present gift fully executed.”

See also Espinosa v. Petritis, 70 N.M. 327, 373 P.2d 820 (1962).

Defendant first contends that so far as the Securities are concerned, delivery, within the meaning of the fourth element enumerated in Lusk, was completed by plaintiff having caused the Securities to be registered in defendant’s name.

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Bluebook (online)
492 P.2d 636, 83 N.M. 365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kinney-v-ewing-nm-1972.