Milan v. Boucher
| Decision Date | 28 March 1934 |
| Citation | 189 N.E. 576,285 Mass. 590 |
| Parties | MILAN v. BOUCHER et al. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Report from Superior Court, Plymouth County; A. R. Weed, Judge.
Suit in equity by Michael T. Milan against George A. Boucher and others. On report from the superior court after order for entry of decree for plaintiff.
Order for decree affirmed.William F. Hallisey and Eben G. Townes, both of Brockton, for petitioner.
Fletcher & Stone, of Brockton, for respondents.
The plaintiff seeks by this suit to have rescinded and declared null and void a conveyance and declaration of trust executed by his wife to the defendants Boucher and John F. Milan. Two savings accounts are involved, one in the Home National Bank of Brockton, and the other in the Brockton National Bank. At the time of the conveyance and declaration of trust, these accounts stood in the names of the plaintiff, Michael T. Milan, and Elizabeth Milan, his wife, jointly. Printed upon both signature cards signed by them was the following:
It appears from the report of material facts by the trial judge that on December 16, 1930, Elizabeth Milan, while seriously ill, executed orders on the banks differing slightly in form. One order directed payment to Boucher and John F. Milan as trustees, or order, of ‘all sums now on deposit to my credit in your bank under Book No. 2586, and charge the same to my account in said deposit.’ The other order directed payment to the same trustees of ‘all sums now on deposit in your bank in said account and charge the same to account No. 5613.’ Contemporaneously she executed a conveyance in trust to the same trustees of the two savings accounts and they executed a declaration of trust setting out the terms on which they held the savings accounts. It provided that they were to invest the funds and pay to Elizabeth Milan, at her request, such part, or the whole of the income as she might desire. They were to have absolute discretion to pay to her such part of the principal as they deemed fit, and if she should survive her husband, they were to pay over to her the entire fund. If she did not survive her husband, they were to pay to him for life such part of the interest and principal of the fund as they deemed necessary for his comfortable support or maintenance. On the death of the husband, the fund was to be equally distributed among the five children of Mrs. Milan. On the same day the defendant John F. Milan presented to the banks the respective bank books, together with the orders, and signed certain withdrawal slips or receipts, one of which the defendant Boucher also signed. Each bank thereupon cancelled and marked ‘paid’ the deposit book relating to the account in that bank, and closed the account on its books, and in each case opened a new account in the names of the defendants John F. Milan and George A. Boucher, as trustees, for the respective amounts shown in the closing of the earlier accounts. On January 1, 1931, and February 1, 1931, each bank credited each account with the interest to which the earlier accounts would have been entitled had no change been made. Elizabeth Milan died on January 7, 1931. The plaintiff had no knowledge of the above transactions until after her death.
The trial judge ruled that the transactions were in effect assignments and transfers of the deposits rather than withdrawals on order, and that the transfers, while severing the joint ownership in the deposits, were effective only with respect to Mrs. Milan's interest therein. He then found that the evidence was insufficient to overcome the ordinary...
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Blanchette v. Blanchette
...finding as to the respective interests of the parties in joint deposits during their lives is a pure question of fact. Milan v. Boucher, 285 Mass. 590, 594, 189 N.E. 576 (husband and wife 'equally interested'); Greeley v. Flynn, 310 Mass. 23, 27--28, 36 N.E.2d 394 (revocable trust for donee......
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Gibbons v. Gibbons
... ... niece, where she did so for her own convenience and with no ... intent to transfer a present title. See, also, Milan v ... Boucher, 285 Mass. 590, 189 N.E. 576; Coolidge v ... Brown, 286 Mass. 504, 190 N.E. 723. In the present case, ... the bill negatives any ... ...
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Heffernan v. Wollaston Credit Union, 89-P-995
...of the nature of the transaction and how her interest in the joint account would be affected by it.7 Compare Milan v. Boucher, 285 Mass. 590, 593-594, 189 N.E. 576 (1934), which involved a wife's transfer from one account to another of all the funds in a joint account she had with her husba......
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Campagna v. Campagna
...[of the parties] was, and this is a question of fact.' Buckley v. Buckley, 301 Mass. 530, 531, 17 N.E.2d 887, 888. See Milan v. Boucher, 285 Mass. 590, 189 N.E. 576; Swenson v. Swenson, 320 Mass. 105, 67 N.E.2d 746; Arsenault v. Arsenault, 337 Mass. ----, 148 N.E.2d The petition, framed to ......