McDougald v. Boyd

SLOSS, J.

This proceeding was instituted by the treasurer of the city and county of San Francisco against the executrix of the will of Colin M. Boyd, deceased, to require the payment of an inheritance tax on the sum of $34,268.55, on deposit with the Savings Union Bank and Trust Company

[755]

of San Francisco. The court entered judgment requiring the executrix to pay a tax of $1,168.53. The defendant appeals from the judgment, bringing up the evidence by means óf a bill of exceptions.

The petition alleges that the money on deposit was a part of the estate of the decedent at the time of his death. The answer denies the allegation, and alleges, in effect, that more than a year before the death of Colin M. Boyd he and the appellant, his wife, had opened two joint accounts in said Savings Union Bank and Trust Company, and that the money so deposited was the property described in the petition.

The court found that the decedent, at the time of his death, left the sum of $37,868.55 on deposit with the Savings Union Bank and Trust Company. It further found, in accordance with the allegations of the answer, that on February 27, 1911, something over a year before Boyd’s death, said Boyd and his wife, the appellant, had opened the joint accounts mentioned in the answer; that at the time of said deposits the sums so deposited were the individual property of Colin M. Boyd; that the deposits were made by said Boyd in contemplation of his death, and were intended by him to take effect in possession and enjoyment as to the appellant herein after the death of said Colin M. Boyd.

There is no averment in the petition, nor is there any finding that the deposits, or the transfers which they constituted, were made without valuable or adequate consideration.

The findings that the money on deposit was a part of the estate of Colin M. Boyd at the time of his death; that the transfers were made in contemplation of death, and that they were intended to take effect in possession and enjoyment after the death of Colin M. Boyd, are all assailed as unsupported by the evidence.

We think it clear that the evidence does not support the finding that the sums of money remaining on deposit at the time of the death of Colin M. Boyd were a part of his estate. At the time the two joint accounts were opened, Boyd and his wife signed an agreement with the bank to the effect that the money deposited was to be held on the understanding and condition that the same and all accumulations thereof should be payable to Colin M. Boyd and Sara M. Boyd, or either of them, during their joint lives and should belong absolutely to the survivor of them. The deposits thereby became the