Tucker v. Tucker, 43374

• Decision Date: 22 March 1965
• Docket Number: No. 43374,43374
• Citation: 173 So.2d 405,252 Miss. 344
• Parties: Mrs. Lillie Bell Bratos TUCKER v. Julian C. TUCKER, Administrator, and Mrs. S. P. Cagle, Administratrix of the Estate of Earl G. Tucker, Deceased.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 405

173 So.2d 405

252 Miss. 344

Mrs. Lillie Bell Bratos TUCKER v. Julian C. TUCKER, Administrator, and Mrs. S. P. Cagle,

Administratrix of the Estate of Earl G. Tucker,

Deceased.

No. 43374.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

March 22, 1965.

W. S. Murphy, Lucedale, for appellant.

O. F. & J. O. Moss, Lucedale, for appellees.

KYLE, Presiding Justice:

This case is before us on appeal by Mrs. Lillie Bell Bratos Tucker, defendant in the court below, from a decree of the Chancery Court of George County rendered in favor of Julian C. Tucker, Administrator, and Mrs. S. P. Cagle, Administratrix of the Estate of Earl G. Tucker, deceased, complainants, in the court below, adjudging that the complainants as administrators aforesaid were the true and lawful owners of a deposit account held by Brookley Field Credit Union of Mobile, alabama, in the name of Earl G. Tucker and Mrs. Earl Tucker in the sum of $2,287.04 as of January 17, 1963, and enjoining the defendant from withdrawing or attempting to withdraw the money on deposit in said account at the time of the filing of the complainants' bill.

The record shows that Earl g. Tucker was a resident of George County, Mississippi, at the time of his death and for many years immediately prior thereto; that he was first married to Ella Mae Biglane, and to that union there were born two children, Barbara Tucker, born June 22, 1943, and Kerry Tucker born April 29, 1946; that Ella Mae Biglane Tucker died on August 31, 1952, and on November 3, 1956, Earl G. Tucker married Mrs. Lillie Bell Bratos, a widow, the appellant herein. The marriage to Mrs. Bratos was a second marriage for both parties, and on June 2, 1959, the appellant filed a bill for divorce in the Chancery Court of George County. The appellant alleged as grounds for the divorce wilful, continued and obstinate desertion for the space of more than one year. The appellant alleged that the separation occurred in George County on May 1, 1958; that she and the respondent, Earl G. Tucker, through advice of counsel, had been able to divide the property, and that she was not asking for alimony or support money for herself. The suit for divorce was not contested; and on July 21, 1959, a decree of divorce from the bonds of matrimony was entered and the costs of the proceeding were taxed against the respondent. Copies of the bill of complaint in the suit for divorce and the divorce decree were attached as exhibits to the bill of complaint filed in the case that we now have before us, and were introduced in evidence during the hearing.

The record shows that Earl G. Tucker died intestate on November 26, 1962, and that he left as his only heirs the two minor children mentioned above; that for many years prior to his death Earl G. Tucker was a civilian employee of the United States at Brookley Field Air Force Base, Mobile, Alabama, and that on February 9, 1954, he opened a deposit account in the nature of a bank savings account with the Brookley Field Credit Union. The account was opened in the name of Earl G. Tucker, and at the time of the filing of the bill of complaint in this cause the account showed deposits and withdrawals as follows: A deposit of $10 during the month of February 1954; a deposit of $590 during the month of June 1955; a deposit of $100 during the month of July 1955; a withdrawal of $675 during the month of August 1955; and a withdrawal of the balance of the money on deposit in the sum of $25.42, in July 1956, when the account was closed. The record shows that the account was reopened on November 29, 1957 by a deposit of $200 and a deposit of $800 was made during the month of December 1957. On January 17, 1958, the name of Mrs. Earl Tucker was added to the account card. No other deposits or withdrawals were made until June 1959. The accounts showed deposits and withdrawals thereafter, as follows:

                            June 1959 w/d                    $200.00
                            June 1959 w/d                      61.00 ($800.00
                                                               balance)
                            June 1959 w/d                      50.00
                            Aug. 1959 w/d                      50.00 ($700.00
                                                               balance)
                            Sept.1960 dep.                   $258.00 (bal
                                                               $1,000.00)
                

Balance at death 26 Nov. 1962--$1,110.57 (interest appears to account for

difference)

Cuna Ins. Co. paid--17 Jan. 1963 $1,110.57

---------

CURRENT BALANCE---- $2,287.74 (Interest added on 1 Jan. 63)

The bill of complaint was filed on November 7, 1963. The complainants alleged that they were the duly appointed, qualified and acting administrators of the estate of the decedent by virtue of a decree of the Chancery Court of George County and that the suit was filed under authority of a decree of that court entered on October 21, 1963. The complainants then alleged in the bill the facts concerning the establishment of the above mentioned savings account by the decedent with the Brookley Field Credit Union during the year 1954, and the deposits and withdrawals of funds during the several years which elapsed between that date and the death of Earl G. Tucker, and the facts concerning the addition of the name of 'Mrs. Earl Tucker' on the account card on January 17, 1958. The complainants further alleged that at the time of the death of Earl G. Tucker the account, including $110.57 accrued interest, showed a balance of $1110.57; that the account automatically carried life insurance in the amount of the account, and on January 17, 1963, Cuna Insurance Company paid into the account $1110.57 in life insurance payable upon the death of Earl G. Tucker, thereby making a total balance in the account, including $66.60 interest accruing January 1, 1963, in the sum of $2,287.74. The complainants further alleged in their bill that there was no money whatever in the deposit account on November 3, 1956, the date of the marriage of Earl G. Tucker to Mrs. Lillie Bell Bratos Tucker; that the defendant's name was added to the account card on January 17, 1958; and that on July 21, 1959, the date the defendant obtained a divorce from Earl G. Tucker, there was a balance in the account of $750.

The complainants further alleged in their bill that the defendant Mrs. Lillie Bell Bratos Tucker never deposited any of her personal funds in the above mentioned Credit Union account during the time of her marriage to Earl G. Tucker, but maintained her personal savings bank account in the Bank of Lucedale; and that upon the separation and divorce of the parties there was an agreement between them effecting a full and complete property settlement, and both parties understood and agreed that the Brookley Field Credit Union account was the property of Earl G. Tucker; that other deposits were made by Earl G. Tucker subsequent to the rendition of the divorce decree, and the proceeds of the above mentioned life insurance policy were deposited to the credit of the account after the death of Earl G. Tucker. The complainants further alleged that although the account card showed that the account was a 'joint share' account, the defendant had no equitable interest therein or equitable title thereto whatsoever; that the equitable interest and title in the account was vested solely in the complainants as the legal representative of the estate of Earl G. Tucker, deceased.

The complainants therefore prayed that process be issued for the defendant commanding her to appear at its next regular term of the court and answer the complainants' bill, and that upon the final hearing of the cause a decree be entered adjudging the complainants to be the true and lawful owners of the funds on deposit in the Credit Union account, and that the defendant had no right, title or interest therein, and perpetually enjoining and restraining the defendant from withdrawing or attempting to withdraw the monies on deposit in the account. The complainants also prayed for general relief.

The defendant, Mrs. Lillie Bell Bratos Tucker, in her answer admitted her marriage to Earl G. Tucker on November 3, 1956, and she admitted that the marriage had been dissolved by divorce as alleged in the complainants' bill; but she averred in her answer that the money on deposit in the Brookley Field Credit Union account represented a joint account before the separation and before the divorce; that she had given Earl G. Tucker some money of her own which he had deposited in the account, and Earl G. Tucker had agreed that the account would be a joint account. The defendant denied that it was ever the intention of Earl G. Tucker to change the account from that of a joint account back to his individual account. The defendant admitted that prior to the divorce there was a property settlement between her and her husband; but she averred that it was agreed among other things that the account with Brookley Field Credit Union would remain intact and would not be liquidated except by mutual agreement between the parties. The defendant admitted that she had asserted a claim to the money on deposit, and had made demand for the payment of the money to her, and that the Credit Union had refused to pay the money to her. She averred in her answer that she was the absolute owner of the money on deposit, and she denied that the complainants had any equitable title or any right thereto.

Several witnesses were called to testify during the hearing.

The complainant Julian C. Tucker testified that he was a brother of Earl G. Tucker, deceased, and that the complainant Mrs. S. P. Cagle was a sister of Mrs. Ella Biglane Tucker, deceased, the mother of Earl G. Tucker's two minor children. The witness stated that afther he and Mrs. Cagle had qualified as administrators of the estate of the decedent, they sought to withdraw the money on deposit with the Credit Union, but the Credit Union declined to release the money to them because Mrs. Lillie Bell Bratos Tucker's...