Zambunos v. Zambunos
| Decision Date | 11 April 1949 |
| Citation | 324 Mass. 220,85 N.E.2d 328 |
| Parties | WILLIAM ZAMBUNOS v. ANNA ZAMBUNOS. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
December 7, 1948.
Present: QUA, C.
J., LUMMUS, RONAN SPALDING, & WILLIAMS, JJ.
Gift. Joint Tenants.
Personal Property Joint tenancy.
Subsidiary findings by a judge in a suit in equity by a husband against his wife that the plaintiff gave money to the defendant to purchase postal savings certificates, which she took in her name contrary to his instructions to her to have them put in the names of both "so that the survivor would have a clear title . . . [to them] without the necessity of court proceedings," were inconsistent with a conclusion by the judge that the plaintiff had no intention of making a gift of "any part" of the certificates to the defendant, and required a conclusion that the plaintiff made to her a present gift of a joint interest therein under which he was to have sole control during his life and whatever might remain at his death would then become fully owned by her if she should survive him.
The validity of a gift of a joint interest in personalty was not impaired by the reservation by the donor of the sole right of control of the property during his life.
BILL IN EQUITY, filed in the Superior Court on March 19, 1948. The suit was heard by Morton, J., by whose order a final decree was entered providing that The defendant appealed.
E. J. Bushell, for the defendant. John J. Murphy, (J. V. Murphy with him,) for the plaintiff.
The purpose of this suit between husband and wife is to determine the ownership of certain United States bonds and postal savings certificates. Since the defendant conceded at the arguments before us that the plaintiff is the owner of the bonds, the questions for decision relate only to the certificates. The evidence is reported and the judge made a voluntary report of the material facts found by him.
Findings of the judge include the following: The plaintiff turned over money ($2,500 in the aggregate) to the defendant from time to time with the request that she use it for the purchase of postal savings certificates. He instructed her to have the certificates put in the names of both "so that the survivor would have a clear title . . . [to them] without the necessity of court proceedings." The certificates were purchased solely with the plaintiff's money and "he had no intention of making a gift thereof or any part thereof" to the defendant. The defendant, however, instead of carrying out the plaintiff's instructions had the certificates made out in her name. The plaintiff, upon learning of this sometime later, requested the defendant to take the necessary steps to have the certificates put in the names of both of them, but she refused to do so. The defendant left the plaintiff's home on March 9, 1948, taking with her the United States bonds and some cash. The certificates were in the possession of the plaintiff. The judge ordered the entry of a decree adjudging that the plaintiff was the sole owner of the postal savings certificates and directing the defendant to execute all documents necessary to transfer title to them to the plaintiff. From a decree entered in accordance with that order, the defendant appealed.
The defendant urges that the judge should have found that she was the sole owner of the...
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