Brine v. Parker
| Decision Date | 02 April 1930 |
| Citation | 271 Mass. 86,171 N.E. 324 |
| Parties | BRINE v. PARKER. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Superior Court, Suffolk County; F. J. MacLeod, Judge.
Suit by Henry C. Brine, executor of estate of William A. Grozier, against Blanche B. Parker, in which defendant filed cross-bill. From an interlocutory decree, defendant appeals, and, from final decree, both plaintiff and defendant appeal.
Affirmed.
L. D. Jennings, of Boston, for plaintiff.
A. C. Blake, of Boston, for defendant.
This is a bill in equity brought by the executor of the will of William A. Grozier seeking to recover from the defendant certain securities in her possession which she claims as gifts. The defendant by a cross bill seeks to establish her title to certain stocks and savings bank deposits in the possession of the plaintiff. The master appointed in the case has classified these securities into certain groups designated respectively by letters.
The decree is based upon the master's findings to the effect that the property described in groups lettered A and B is owned by the defendant, and the bank books and other securities described in groups C, D and E belong to the plaintiff as executor of the will of Grozier. The plaintiff contends that he as executor is entitled to the stocks described in group B and the defendant contends that the stocks and property described in all of the groups should have been decreed to be the property of the defendant. Group A is a list of bonds delivered to the defendant by Grozier with the intention of making a gift. These have since been retained by her and no contention is now made that the defendant is not entitled to them.
Grozier died July 18, 1928, when sixty-four years of age. He left surviving him a wife to whom he was married in 1896. Their only child died in 1900. Grozier frequently visited the home of the defendant and made many trips with her. On March 6, 1925, he executed a will, which was duly probated, by which he gave to his wife all his real and personal property, with certain exceptions, and to the defendant his rights in a certain trust fund.
On February 28, 1924, a box was rented at the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company under an arrangement whereby the defendant and Grozier became joint tenants with right of exclusive access to the survivor. Each had a key to the box and it was known between them as her box; she paid the rent and they continued to hold the box under this arrangement until Grozier's death. It was taken for the purpose of placing in it securities which Grozier wanted the defendant to have so that she would be protected after his death. For many years he had rented a box at the National Shawmut Bank. On April 27, 1928, about two weeks before he was stricken with his last illness, he arranged for a larger box to which the defendant was authorized to have access, and when giving her a key thereto said, ‘Here is another box for you to take care of.’ The smaller box was then given up. The larger box was taken for the purpose of keeping therein a large record book of his investments. This book has disappeared.
On May 12, 1928, Grozier suffered a shock On May 14, 1928, the defendant visited the On May 14, 1925, the defendant visited the boxes at the National Shawmut Bank and the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company and removed all bank books and securities which they contained. The stocks transferred to the defendant set forth in group B and the stock standing in Grozier's name, indorsed in blank by him, described in group C, were at the time of their removal by the defendant in the box at the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company, and the stocks and other securities in Grozier's name set forth in groups D and E were in the box at the National Shawmut Bank. In the latter part of July, 1928, the defendant without the knowledge of her counsel sold the stocks described in group B and deposited the proceeds in a safe deposit box in Providence. Rhode Island. By advice of counsel she has repurchased some of these stocks and the balance of the proceeds is still held. On October 5, 1928, she returned to the box in the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company the certificates of stock referred to in group D.
About the first of April, 1928, Grozier, through a friend, sought legal advice as to the effect of a transfer of stock where new certificates are issued in the name of the transferee, indorsed by him and returned to the transferor, who places them in a safe deposit box to which each has access, the transferee receiving and keeping the dividends during the life of the transferor whose intention is that after his death the transferee shall own the stock. The advice received in reply to the inquiry was that no gift could be made to take effect at death except by will, and that in order to have a completed gift there would have to be an unqualified delivery before the donor's death.
In April and September, 1927, Grozier caused the stock named in group B to be transferred into the name of the defendant and, after procuring her indorsement in blank upon the certificates, placed them in an envelope upon which was written, ‘Property of Miss Blanche B. Parker, 68 Johnson Ave., Winthrop, Mass. April 18, 1927,’ and deposited them in the box at the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company. The master found that he had the certificates indorsed in blank thinking that in case of the defendant's death he might cause the stocks to be transferred to him, and also perhaps to enable him to change investments for her if he deemed it advisable. Some of these stocks were mentioned by Grozier to others as having been given to the defendant. These stocks and also bonds in group A were listed by Grozier in books which he prepared and gave to the defendant. The income therefrom was subsequently received directly by the defendant, and it was thereafter Grozier's custom to make up a list of the amounts of income so received by the defendant from these stocks and from the bonds, and to pay her by check the difference between such amounts and the amount of her allowance from him, which from that time on was at the rate of $130 a week. The master found that Grozier intended to make a gift to the defendant of the stocks in group B at the time he had the certificates made out in her name, procured her indorsement thereon, and placed them in the box at the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company. He also found, so far as it was a question of fact, that there was a present perfected gift to the defendant of the securities in this group. It was for the...
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