Riggio v. Southwest Bank of St. Louis
| Decision Date | 16 July 1991 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 58837,58838,s. 58837 |
| Citation | 815 S.W.2d 51 |
| Parties | Vincent J. RIGGIO, Appellant/Plaintiff, v. SOUTHWEST BANK OF ST. LOUIS, et al., Respondents/Defendants. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Richard A. Wunderlich, Robert J. Golterman, Lewis, Rice & Fingersh, St. Louis, for appellant/plaintiff.
Leroy J. Crouther, Jr., St. Louis, for respondents/defendants.
Plaintiff and the individual defendants appeal from the judgment of the circuit court in which plaintiff was awarded $158,339.00 and $35,000 as a one year support allowance from $1,064,074.29 in assets which the trial court found had been transferred by plaintiff's deceased wife in fraud of plaintiff's marital rights under § 474.150 RSMo 1986. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
Plaintiff, Vincent J. Riggio and his wife Mary Riggio were married in November, 1937. From their marriage until the time of Mary's death, plaintiff and Mary were Illinois residents. On February 12, 1989, Mary died intestate and without issue. Plaintiff was appointed the personal administrator of Mary's estate by the Circuit Court of Perry County, Illinois. Plaintiff remains an Illinois resident.
Plaintiff and Mary jointly owned approximately $747,000.00 in personal property as well as jointly held real estate. Upon Mary's death he became sole owner of this property. After Mary's death plaintiff's relatives found approximately $722,000.00 in certificates of deposit hidden in a cabinet drawer in the couple's kitchen in Illinois. The great majority of these represented deposits in three St. Louis banks in Mary's name jointly with various of her blood relatives. The others were trust accounts on which certain of her relatives were named beneficiaries. It was additionally determined that Mary had savings accounts in St. Louis banks, each in joint names with a relative. These savings accounts totalled approximately $337,000.00.
Shortly after her death, Mary's relatives began withdrawing money from these accounts. Plaintiff then filed suit in equity in the City of St. Louis seeking to enjoin the disbursement of the disputed funds by the defendant banks to the defendant relatives. A temporary restraining order was issued. Defendant banks counterclaimed for an order of interpleader which was granted, and the disputed funds were retained by defendant banks subject to order of the trial court.
Plaintiff's first amended petition alleged that the disputed funds were his own earnings entrusted to his wife to be invested for their joint benefit but converted by her. Plaintiff claimed that the transfer of the disputed funds was a violation of Mary's fiduciary duty in derogation of his rights and a fraud on his marital rights under § 474.150 RSMo 1986. He sought the imposition of a constructive trust and injunctive relief restraining the banks from paying the funds to the individual defendants.
The trial court found that there was insufficient evidence of conversion, but that the property had been transferred in fraud of plaintiff's marital rights in violation of § 474.150.1 RSMo 1986. The court then found that the gifts were to be recovered and applied to the spouse's share of the estate as in an election to take against the will. Using provisions of the Missouri Probate Code, the trial court calculated the amount of the "estate" by adding the total amount of the gifts and the total amount the trial court found plaintiff received as joint property for a "Total Estate per Sec. 474.163" of $1,811,470.57. It took one-half of that figure and deducted the joint property for an award to plaintiff of $158,339.00. It further made a one year's support allowance to plaintiff under § 474.160 RSMo 1986 in the amount of $35,000 for a total of $193,339.00. It determined the remaining property belonged to the individual defendants. It appointed the attorneys for the two sides as trustees to collect the funds adjudged to be the property of the defendants, open an account to determine the interest of each defendant and distribute to each individual defendant his or her share after payment of costs, taxes and fees, subject to any prior withdrawals, if any. It also ordered the trustees to prepare and file tax returns occasioned by the death of Mary Riggio. Both plaintiff and the individual defendants appeal.
The individual defendants attack the application of Missouri law to the determination of fraud of marital rights; plaintiff attacks the manner in which the court determined the parties' respective interests in the funds transferred. We find that Missouri law applies to the determination of fraud. We further find that the trial court did not have subject matter jurisdiction to calculate the "estate" or plaintiff's share therein and distribute the funds to the parties.
The individual defendants' sole point on appeal is that the trial court erred in applying Missouri law in making its finding that the funds in the accounts had been transferred in fraud of marital rights.
Defendants argue that §§ 473.671 and 473.675 of the Missouri Probate Code require application of Illinois law. These sections of the probate code address jurisdiction and choice of law with respect to administration of assets in a decedent's estate. They are not relevant to determine choice of law in an equity case to determine the validity of a non-probate transfer of ownership of bank deposits. The transfer and ownership of the deposits at issue in this case are governed by Missouri banking statutes. Section 362.470 RSMo 1986 applies to joint deposits, including jointly held certificates of deposit. In re Estate of King, 572 S.W.2d 200, 205-06 (Mo.App.1978). It provides that the joint deposit becomes the property of all joint tenants and that after the death of a joint tenant the deposit may be paid to any of the surviving joint tenants. Section 362.475 RSMo 1986 applies to trustee accounts. It provides that where a person has made a deposit as a trustee for a beneficiary without giving the bank notice of any further trust agreement, the deposit may be paid to the beneficiary upon the death of the depositor trustee.
With respect to joint accounts, it is generally agreed that the "determination of the title to and the rights in a deposit standing in the name of the depositor and another is governed by the law of the state where the deposit has been made and the account has been kept." Melton v. Ensley, 421 S.W.2d 44, 53 (Mo.App.1967) (citing 10 Am.Jur.2d Banks § 376, pp 339-340). See also Verzi v. Goldburn, 26 Md.App. 409, 338 A.2d 416, 418 (1975) and cases cited therein.
The trust accounts were in...
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...v. State Bank of Fredonia, 14 Kan.App.2d 552, 795 P.2d 940, 947 (1990) (individual retirement account); and Riggio v. Southwest Bank of St. Louis, 815 S.W.2d 51, 53 (Mo.App.1991). The fraud on marital rights approach has also been used to find trusts valid in particular circumstances. See, ......
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IN RE CLIFTON E. MORTON REVOCABLE TRUST, SD 29620.
...for findings of fact and conclusions of law in the record before us on appeal. 8 This case differs from Riggio v. Southwest Bank of St. Louis, 815 S.W.2d 51 (Mo.App.E.D.1991), cited by Appellants, in the crucial fact that Riggio involved a suit where the property was held individually by a ......