Succession of Harrison

183 So. 3d 579, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2319, 2015 WL 7280670
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 18, 2015
DocketNo. 50,258-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 183 So. 3d 579 (Succession of Harrison) 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
Succession of Harrison, 183 So. 3d 579, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2319, 2015 WL 7280670 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

GARRETT, J.

h Henry L. Himes appeals from a trial court judgment which (1) found that his late father, Thomas A. Harrison, made a valid inter vivos donation when he transferred a large sum of money to his great niece, Susan C. Speed, about a year before his death, and (2) granted Ms. Speed’s motion to withdraw the funds from the registry of the court. We affirm the trial court judgment.

FACTS

This case has been before the court previously, and the prior opinion recites the facts in detail. See In re Succession of Harrison, 48,432 (La.App.2d Cir.11/8/13), 129 So.3d 681, writ denied, 2014-0273 (La.4/4/14), 135 So.3d 1185. To briefly recap, Mr. Harrison, age 94, died intestate on January 1, 2011. His son, Mr. Himes, filed a petition for possession in April 2011, and an ex parte judgment of possession was granted in his favor as the sole heir. In June 2011, Mr. Himes filed a motion to compel turnover of succession property, which asserted that Ms. Speed was in possession of certain tangible items and that she was in receipt of $87,000 from Mr. Harrison’s account at Capital One Bank (“COB”). The court issued an interim order directing Ms. Speed to deposit a cashier’s check for $85,000 into the registry of the court and to turn over to Mr. Himes certain specific items. She complied. In January 2012, Ms. Speed filed exceptions of no right of action and prescription/per-emption. These exceptions argued that Mr. Himes, who was born out of wedlock, had not pleaded that he was formally acknowledged or established paternity within a year of Mr. Harrison’s death. Both exceptions were sustained by the trial court. 1?, However, this court reversed on appeal and remanded for further proceedings.

On remand, Mr. Himes filed a motion to withdraw funds from the court registry in July 2014. In opposition, Ms. Speed contended that her great uncle made a valid inter vivos donation to her when he had her accompany him to the bank and transferred funds from his accounts into a new savings account in her name.1 Thus, she maintained that the funds were no longer part of Mr. Harrison’s estate at the time of his death.

A hearing was held on Mr. Himes’s motion to withdraw funds on August 25, 2014. Testimony was given by Ms. Speed and Meter Johnson, the COB branch manager. Ms. Speed testified that, in the fall of 2009, her great uncle surprised her with the idea of giving her money to help her care for herself and her mother (his niece). On January 29, 2010, she accompanied him to the bank where the transactions to implement his idea were carried out. She testified that she did not spend any of the money prior to Mr. Harrison’s death. She eventually gave some money to various ministries. Ms. Speed further testified that she closed the savings account when she complied with the court’s order to deposit the funds into the registry of the court.

The bank manager, Ms. Johnson, also testified. While she stated that Mr. Harrison seemed “different” on the day of the transactions, she did not agree that he was acting “peculiarly” and conceded that she was not [¡¡concerned enough to call the police. Although Ms. Johnson testified that no cash actually went from hand to hand, she stated that the cash from Mr. [581]*581Harrison’s accounts was placed in the new account created for Ms. Speed. When asked if the transfer was all done electronically, she replied, “Paperwork.” Both witnesses admitted that, during the period between the transactions and his death, Mr. Harrison never expressed a desire to get the money back. Following arguments, the trial court denied Mr. Himes’s motion to withdraw the funds from the court registry. It observed that there was sufficient evidence that a donation took place and that the issue of Mr. Harrison’s capacity to donate was not before the court.

Ms. Speed then filed her own motion to withdraw the funds from the registry of the court in September 2014. Mr. Himes opposed the motion and sought nullification of the donation to Ms. Speed. He contended that such a donation must be in authentic form, pursuant to La. C.C. arts. 1541 and 1550, and that it left Mr. Harrison without enough for subsistence, in violation of La. C.C. art. 1498. He further argued that he was a forced heir and that the donation impinged on his legitime under La. C.C. art. 1495.

Another hearing was held on Ms. Speed’s motion to withdraw funds on November 24, 2014. The matter was submitted following argument. On December 15, 2014, the trial court rendered extensive oral reasons for judgment in open court and ruled in favor of Ms. Speed. The trial court reviewed the relevant jurisprudence. In particular, the court relied upon Succession of Gorman, 209 La. 1092, 26 So.2d 150 (1946), in which a similar donation was upheld where the parties adopted “the most expedient |4way of making and accepting the donation” and the Louisiana Supreme Court found that “the law takes no account of useless formalities.”

The trial court also looked to Mr. Harrison’s intent and the “extraordinary efforts” he went to in carrying out his wish to give his money to his great niece. Namely, he took Ms. Speed with him to the bank; he asked to talk to the manager, a person he trusted and with whom he had a working relationship; he declined offers of other bank employees to assist him; he waited patiently for Ms. Johnson to return; and he instructed her on what he wished to do with his money. The court further considered that, during the period between the transactions and his death, Mr. Harrison never made any effort to revoke the donation. The court noted that, while Ms. Johnson thought his actions were odd, she did not find it odd enough to do anything to make any effort to stop the transactions. Finally, the court found it significant that Ms. Speed left the money alone until a period of time after Mr. Harrison’s death.

The court also dismissed Mr. Himes’s other arguments. As to the contention that the donation divested Mr. Harrison of all his property, the court noted that Mr. Harrison obviously had no problem caring for himself financially until his death. The court dismissed his forced heirship argument because nothing in the record suggested that Mr. Himes was, in fact, a forced heir, i.e., permanently disabled or age 23 or younger.

Judgment in favor of Ms. Speed- was signed on December 29, 2014. It stated that there was a valid inter vivos donation of the funds by manual gift. The motion to withdraw funds was granted, and the clerk of court was ^ordered to- disburse the funds on deposit in the registry of the court to Ms. Speed. Costs were assessed to the plaintiff. Mr. Himes filed a suspen-sive appeal,

DONATION INTER VIVOS

Mr. Himes argues that the trial court erred in finding that Mr. Harrison’s transfer of funds to Ms. Speed was a valid inter [582]*582vivos donation. He maintains that the donation was invalid because it was not made by authentic act,, as required by La. C.C. arts. 1541 and 1550. Ms. Speed maintains that the trial court correctly determined that the donation was valid. .

Law

A donation inter vivos is a contract by which a person, called the donor, gratuitously divests himself, at present and irrevocably, of the thing given in favor of another, called the donee, who accepts it. La. C.C. art. 1468. Donations inter vivos must be by authentic act unless an exception applies. La. C.C. art. 1541. The donation inter vivos

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
183 So. 3d 579, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2319, 2015 WL 7280670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-harrison-lactapp-2015.