Estate of Haynes v. Braden

• Decision Date: 25 February 1992
• Citation: 835 S.W.2d 19
• Parties: ESTATE OF Carl HAYNES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jackie W. BRADEN, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

Page 19

835 S.W.2d 19

ESTATE OF Carl HAYNES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jackie W. BRADEN, Defendant-Appellant.

Court of Appeals of Tennessee Eastern Section.

Feb. 25, 1992.

Permission to Appeal Denied by

Supreme Court

April 27, 1992.

Janet L. Hogan, Knoxville, for defendant-appellant.

Alexander M. Taylor, R. Hunter Cagle, Knoxville, for plaintiff-appellee.

OPINION

McMURRAY, Judge.

In this case, the decedent, James Carl Haynes, established two joint bank accounts, with rights of survivorship, with the defendant, his nephew. One was a certificate of deposit and the other a savings account. Shortly before the decedent's death, the defendant withdrew the funds from the accounts. After the death of the decedent this action was instituted to recover the funds for and on behalf of the estate. ¹ After a bench trial the trial court entered a judgment against the defendant and in favor of the plaintiff for $95,242.80. From this judgment this appeal resulted. For reasons hereinafter stated, we reverse the judgment of the trial court.

The appellant presents the following issues for our review:

1. Whether the contract for a joint account establishes an intent to confer control to the other joint tenant of the funds, thus relieving the defendant from the additional burden of proving an inter vivos gift?

2. Whether ownership of a joint account can be disputed by a third party who is not a joint tenant in the funds?

We enter upon our review of this case mindful of our duty under Rule 13(d) of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure which provides in pertinent part as follows:

(d) Findings of Fact in Civil Actions.--Unless otherwise required by statute, review of findings of fact by the trial court in civil actions shall be de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the finding, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise.

Thus, from our de novo review of the record, if we are unable to determine that the evidence preponderates otherwise, we are bound to respect the findings of fact made by the trial judge. We are not, however, bound by conclusions of law.

The chancellor found that the decedent intended for the defendant "to have the money at his death; not before, but at his death. And the method he chose to do that was by setting up a joint account with right of survivorship but, unfortunately at the time of the death of the deceased, that account had been terminated and so there was no money, no account through which Mr. Haynes was able to 'leave' the money to Mr. Braden."

The chancellor in her memorandum opinion further stated: "... at the time of Mr. Haynes' death, there was no contract. The account had been terminated, so there wasn't any contract between the parties. So, if it passed, then it passed as a gift inter vivos. The question becomes, did the decedent relinquish control prior to his death." The chancellor resolved this question in the negative and found that the estate was entitled to the money. In so doing, she apparently relied upon Leffew v. Mayes, 685 S.W.2d 288, (Tenn.App.1984). In our view, however, Leffew has little, if any, application to the case at hand.

In Leffew, a joint account with right of survivorship was established. ² A dispute arose between the joint account holders. One of the account holders brought suit claiming ownership of one-half of the monies in the account. The remaining account holder asserted ownership of the entire proceeds of the accounts. While the suit was pending, one of the account holders died. The trial court held that the survivor was entitled to the entire amount, as a matter of law, citing Lowry v. Lowry, 541 S.W.2d 128, (Tenn.1976). On appeal, the trial court's judgment was reversed. The court held that "... during the lifetime of joint tenants (other than husband and wife) with right of survivorship, the funds deposited in such an account are held in divisible parts and, upon the death of one, the other takes the whole by survivorship. Therefore, upon suit being brought by Mrs. Leffew claiming one-half of the funds deposited in the joint accounts, the other joint tenant, Daniel, had a right of action to contest that claim and show the realities of ownership, which he did ..." The court went on to hold that since the joint tenants differed on the ownership of funds, and having, during their lifetime brought suit to establish their respective interests therein, the ownership of the funds must be determined in that lawsuit, even though one claimant died while the suit was pending.

In this case, we have an entirely different situation. Firstly, there were no differing claims of ownership between the joint tenants before the death of Mr. Haynes. Secondly, the funds had been withdrawn entirely before the death of Mr. Haynes; and, thirdly, in this case, we have the benefit of the full written agreement between the bank and the joint tenants.

The agreement between the bank and the parties provides in pertinent part as follows:

We hereby apply for an account as joint tenants with rights of survivorship and not as tenants by the entirety in Security Trust Federal Savings and Loan and for the issuance of evidence thereof in their...