Armstrong v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 01 April 1902
• Citation: 93 Mo. App. 492,67 S.W. 733
• Parties: ARMSTRONG v. JOHNSTON et al.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

67 S.W. 733

93 Mo. A. 492

ARMSTRONG v. JOHNSTON et al.

Court of Appeals of St. Louis, Missouri.

April 1, 1902.

HUSBAND AND WIFE—SURVIVORSHIP—DEPOSIT IN JOINT NAME—RIGHTS THEREIN—EVIDENCE—SEPARATE ESTATE.

1. Where certificates of deposit or notes are made payable to two persons, they are presumed to be joint owners thereof in equal shares.

2. Declarations made by a husband depositing money and taking certificates payable to himself and wife, tending to show that the money is the separate property of the husband, are self-serving declarations, and inadmissible in an action by the administrator of the wife against the executor of the husband to recover half of the deposit.

3. The earnings of a wife or the proceeds of the sale or rent of her separate real property being made her separate property by Rev. St. 1899, §§ 4339, 4340, the common-law rule of survivorship, as applied to husband and wife, does not apply.

Appeal from circuit court, Greene county; James T. Neville, Judge.

Action by George B. Armstrong, as administrator of the estate of Margaret Stumm, deceased, against F. C. Johnston, as executor of the estate of P. J. Stumm, deceased, and others. From a judgment for defendants, and an order denying a new trial, plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

Plaintiff is the administrator de bonis non of the estate of Margaret Stumm, deceased. Defendant is the executor of the last will of P. J. Stumm. P. J. and Margaret Stumm were husband and wife. They were married in 1878. Margaret died May 7, 1897, and P. J. died in the month of September of the same year. Margaret was a widow when she married P. J. Stumm, and as such had received from the estate of her former husband land worth about $200 and personal property of the value of $210. In 1894, P. J. Stumm purchased lot 16, block 18, in Pierce City, Mo., for $2,300, and had the deed made to his wife. This was residence property, and rented for some years at $15 per month, and later for $10 a month. On January 24, 1881, Margaret acquired lot 16, block 18, in Pierce City, for the express consideration of $500, and on February 16, 1882, she acquired lot 3, block 33, in the same city, for the express consideration of $650. The rental value of these properties was from $8.50 to $10.50 per month. P. J. Stumm owned a two-story building in the business part of Pierce City, on the first floor of which he conducted a saloon, and he and his wife resided on the second floor. On March 16, 1895, P. J. Stumm deposited with the Lawrence County Bank $1,000, and took from the said bank the following certificate of deposit: "Lawrence County Bank. No. 2387. $1,000.00. Pierce City, Mo., Mch. 16, 1895. P. J. and Margaret Stumm have deposited with us one thousand dollars, payable to their order twelve months after date, with interest at six per cent. per annum. L. L. L. Allen, Pt." This certificate was renewed from time to time as it matured, and was in force at the time of Margaret Stumm's death. On March 27, 1896, P. J. Stumm deposited with the same bank $3,500, and received therefor the following certificate: "$3,500.00. No. 2619. Pierce City, Mo., Mch. 27, 1896. P. J. and Margaret Stumm have deposited with us thirty-five hundred dollars, payable in current funds to their order six months after date, with interest at 5 per cent. per annum. No interest after maturity. Wm. A. Rhea, Ass't C." This certificate was also renewed from time to time as it matured, and was in force at the time of Margaret's death. The interest on each certificate as it matured was paid to P. J. Stumm. Margaret was not present at any of the transactions between the bank and her husband in reference to these certificates. On December 12, 1893, John and Margaret Hennegan executed a promissory note for $200, payable to P. J. and Margaret Stumm. The note was written by P. J. Stumm, and the money was handed to Hennegan by P. J. Stumm. On December 20, 1894, Pat Casey and M. S. Doyle executed their promissory note for $100 payable to P. J. and Margaret Stumm. P. J. Stumm wrote this note also, but the money was handed over by Margaret. Stumm continued in the saloon business for 10 or 12 years. and the evidence indicates that his business was profitable, and that he was a prudent business man. Neither Stumm nor his wife is shown to have had any bank deposit account except the two certificates quoted above. It does not appear who collected the rents on Margaret's real estate in Pierce City, nor what disposition was made of these rents. A short time after Margaret's death, P. J. Stumm surrendered the two bank certificates, and had them reissued and made payable to himself alone. He administered on his wife's estate, and as such filed an inventory showing her personal estate to consist of "one old bedstead, two old quilts, one old cook stove, six old chairs, and two old dining tables." The inventory of P. J. Stumm's estate, as filed by defendant, includes the two certificates of deposit payable to P. J. Stumm alone,—one for $1,000 and the other for $3,500,—and the two notes mentioned above, payable to P. J. and Margaret Stumm. Both P. J. and Margaret Stumm died without children or their descendants. William A. Rhea, assistant cashier of the Lawrence County Bank, testified as follows: "Have been with the bank seventeen years. Was acquainted with P. J. and Margaret Stumm. Books do not show Margaret ever had in bank any money on deposit in her individual name. Our books show that at time of death of Margaret Stumm there was two certificates, one for $3,500 and one for $1,000, in the joint names of P. J. and Margaret Stumm. The $3,500 certificate was given in November, 1893, and the $1,000 appears first in March, 1894. These certificates were renewed every six months. On or about May 11, 1897, these two certificates were surrendered by P. J. Stumm, and new certificates were issued in his name. Prior to the issue of these two certificates, issued in the joint names of P. J. and Margaret Stumm, neither of them had kept deposit in the bank in their individual names. Mrs. Stumm died a few days prior to the surrender of the two joint certificates." He stated also that P. J. Stumm always brought the certificates to the bank for renewal, and that he had no knowledge of any one ever having possession of the certificates except Stumm, and that it was his...