Succession of McCrocklin

126 So. 2d 364, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 1341
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 1, 1960
DocketNo. 9324
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 126 So. 2d 364 (Succession of McCrocklin) 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 McCrocklin, 126 So. 2d 364, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 1341 (La. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

GLADNEY, Judge.

Mrs. Delia S. McCrocklin died intestate in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, on May 15,-[365]*3651959. She was survived by four children and one grandchild, the child of a predeceased child. Jack S. McCrocklin, a son, was appointed administrator of the succession, and an inventory of the property and effects belonging to the succession was prepared and filed. Virginia McCrocklin Hewitt and Hasseltine McCrocklin West, daughter and granddaughter respectively of the decedent, filed a petition which was served upon Jack S. McCrocklin, administrator of the succession, and Lula La Hood, notary public, who prepared the inventory, to compel reformation and amendment of the inventory so as to include the following items: (1) A 1959 Impala Chevrolet automobile; (2) Eight $1,000 United States Treasury 2i/¿% Bonds, each “payable to bearer”; (3) A drawing account of $1,175 with the Mansfield Lumber Company. Jack S. McCrocklin filed an answer assigning reasons for the non-inclusion of the above items in the inventory and averred the subject bonds had been donated to Margaret Virginia (Ginger) Johnson, a grandchild, by the decedent prior to her death. Petitioners then sought and obtained a writ of sequestration .resulting in the seizure of the bonds. Ginger Johnson and her mother, Margaret McCrocklin Johnson, moved for a dissolution of the writ of sequestration, with damages and attorney’s fees for its wrongful issuance. Margaret McCrocklin Johnson died on April 21, 1960. Trial on the motion to dissolve was separately had, and by stipulation the evidence taken thereon was submitted to the court on trial of the ownership of the bonds. These proceedings resulted in judgment dismissing the demand for inclusion of the automobile and drawing account in the inventory, but recognizing the bonds as being the property of the succession and ordering their inclusion in an amended inventory. From the decree so rendered, all parties have appealed.

No issue has been presented to this court concerning the exclusion of the automobile and the drawing account from the effects of the succession, thus the controversy has been restricted to the status of the bonds. The primary question, therefore, is whether United States bearer bonds are susceptible to donation inter vivos by manual delivery alone, or whether further formality is required.

The pertinent circumstances are readily established and are not seriously disputed. The bonds were inherited by Mrs. Delia S. McCrocklin and in October, 1958, were brought to the First National Bank in Mansfield for delivery to her. The bank president, Willis Evans Calvert, testified that a short while thereafter Jack S. Mc-Crocklin, acting under authority from his mother, requested that the bonds be placed in a safe at the bank and there they remained until December 22, 1958. At that time Jack McCrocklin advised Calvert that his mother wished to make a donation of the bonds to Ginger Johnson, after which the bank would hold them for the donee. The bank then issued its receipt for the bonds on a deposit slip in the names of Ginger and Margaret McCrocklin Johnson. The name of Margaret McCrocklin Johnson was included in the writing as a matter of convenience only, and was suggested by the banker. Ginger Johnson was informed of the donation by Jack McCrocklin, and on December 27th she and her mother acknowledged receipt from Jack McCrocklin of the bonds, which were left at the bank. Two of the bonds were later sold by Jack McCrocklin, with the consent of Ginger Johnson, in order to pay an obligation, of Margaret McCrocklin Johnson.

The position of Virginia McCrocklin Hewitt and Hasseltine McCrocklin West is that: first, the United States bearer bonds are incorporeal things, — credits, not susceptible to donation inter vivos by manual delivery alone, and a donation thereof to be legally effective must conform to the formalities prescribed by LSA-C.C. arts. 1536 and 1538;1 and second, if it be held [366]*366the bonds are corporeal movable effects, and as such are subject to donation by manual gift, it is urged the donation to Ginger Johnson was not perfected forasmuch as the evidence fails to establish the donoFs intention to give, and the attempted donation was not accompanied by a real delivery.2

When a donation is in the form of a manual gift of corporeal movable effects, accompanied by a real delivery, it is not subject to any other formality. Article 1539; Succession of Hale, 1874, 26 La.Ann. 195; Succession of Zacharie, 1907, 119 La. 150, 43 So. 988; Succession of Housknecht, 1914, 135 La. 818, 66 So. 233, L.R.A.1915B, 396; Hurley v. Hurley, 1920, 146 La. 337, 83 So. 643; Succession of McBurney, 1927, 162 La. 758, 111 So. 86; Gibson v. Hearn, 1927, 164 La. 65, 113 So. 766; Faison v. Patout, 1947, 212 La. 37, 31 So.2d 416; Funderburk v. Funderburk, 1949, 214 La. 717, 38 So.2d 502. The proof required in such cases must be strong and convincing that it was the donor’s intention to give the property. Succession of Woolfolk, 1954, 225 La. 1, 71 So.2d 861.

Louisiana decisions construing LSA-Civil Code article 1539 have shown a tendency to accord with the common law rule to the effect:

“ ‘The general rule is that an in-dorsement and delivery of a check or certificate by the owner or payee thereof will constitute a valid gift of the fund represented by such check or certificate. The rule, however, in regard to the donor’s personal check or note is otherwise, and the mere delivery thereof does not constitute a perfect gift, since it is revokable at any time prior to its presentation and payment, and is ipso facto revoked by the death of the donor.’ 20 Cyc. 1205.” Succession of Desina, 1909, 123 La. 468, 480, 49 So. 23, 27.

In order for a credit to be the subject of a manual gift, delivery of the credit must carry an indefeasible title. Where something else besides a mere hand to hand delivery is required to cause title to pass, it remains subject to further control, and the transfer is not complete. Succession of Sinnott v. Hibernia National Bank, 1901, 105 La. 705, 30 So. 233.3

Counsel contends the subject bonds which are credits of the United States are incorporeal in their nature.

An examination of our jurisprudence discloses bonds have been held the subject of a manual gift in Succession of Moore, 1888, 40 La.Ann. 531, 4 So. 460, and the Succession of Sanders, 1930, 171 La. 569, 131 So. 674. In the Succession of [367]*367Land, 1947, 212 La. 103, 31 So.2d 609, the court denied there was a manual gift.

Proof of Mrs. McCrocklin’s intention to make the donation rests entirely upon the testimony of Jack McCrocklin, and the record discloses no good reason for rejecting his testimony. Undoubtedly, he enjoyed the confidence of his mother inasmuch as he attended to her business affairs. The donation was against his personal interest since his share in his mother’s estate would be diminished thereby. Mr. Calvert and some, if not all, of the members of the McCrocklin family knew of the delivery of the bonds several months prior to the death of the donor, and we find no evidence of a denial by Mrs. McCrocklin.

In the Succession of Zacharie, 1907, 119 La. 150, 43 So. 988 a sister of the decedent, acting as his agent for the sale of certain real estate, perfected the sale and then deposited the proceeds in the joint bank account of herself and her sister.

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Bluebook (online)
126 So. 2d 364, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 1341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-mccrocklin-lactapp-1960.