Estate of Drucker

California Court of Appeal Feb 7, 1984 No. 28926Published

Before: Wiener

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Holding. The court held that a noncontributing joint tenant is not entitled to funds withdrawn by the contributing joint tenant from a joint tenancy account and reinvested in the contributor's name alone, as the original arrangement functioned as a revocable trust rather than a true joint tenancy.

Issues

Whether funds withdrawn from a joint tenancy account and reinvested in the contributor's name alone remain subject to a joint tenancy interest.
Whether a noncontributing joint tenant has a present vested interest in funds held in a joint tenancy account established for estate planning purposes.

Disposition. reversed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“When Drucker decided to transfer part of what in effect was trust corpus from the San Diego account into the La Jolla account and later purchase a treasury certificate in her name alone, Hall lost her right to those funds.”

“She was not a joint tenant of the successor account unless she was a true joint tenant of the original account, and in determining whether [any] presumption is applicable we may not assume the answer to the ultimate question at issue.”

152 Cal.App.3d 509 (1984) 199 Cal. Rptr. 345 Estate of JANET C. DRUCKER, Deceased.

ANN C. HALL, Petitioner and Respondent,

JANE DENHAM CORNISH, as Executrix, etc., Objector and Appellant.

Docket No. 28926. Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, Division One.

February 7, 1984. [511] COUNSEL

Brown & Adler and John Adler for Objector and Appellant.

Crabtree & Goodwin, Brooks Crabtree and Daniel B. Crabtree for Petitioner and Respondent.

OPINION

WIENER, J.

Jane Denham Cornish, executrix of the estate of Janet C. Drucker, deceased, appeals the orders determining Ann C. Hall to be the owner as surviving joint tenant of (1) a bank account at La Jolla Bank & Trust Company (La Jolla account) and (2) the proceeds of a $25,000 treasury bill. Although the source of the La Jolla account and the treasury bill was a joint tenancy account between Drucker and Hall, those items were in Drucker's name alone at the time of her death. Because the joint tenancy was not a true joint tenancy we reverse with instructions to enter orders in favor of the executrix.

In August 1981, Hall petitioned under Probate Code section 851.5 for a declaration that she was the sole owner as surviving joint tenant of the La Jolla account opened by Janet Drucker, deceased. Finding Hall owned the account, the court granted her motion for judgment on the pleadings and [512] ordered Cornish to give the money in the account to Hall. This court reversed the judgment in an unpublished opinion (4 Civ. No. 26554) because Hall had not established a joint tenancy account by a writing as required by Civil Code section 683 and Financial Code section 852. The opinion said: "Nevertheless, this case should be remanded for trial because Hall contends the funds deposited by Drucker into the account were withdrawn from a separate account held in joint tenancy by Drucker and Hall. The significance of this contention was not pursued by the superior court due to the erroneous award of judgment on the pleadings based on the writings. If at trial Hall can prove the source of the funds was indeed a joint tenancy account owned by Drucker and herself, the new account opened by Drucker ordinarily would also be held in joint tenancy despite the lack of a sufficient writing.

Estate of Drucker

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OPINION

WIENER, J.

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