McNett v. Crandell

The plaintiff seeks to recover the amount of two savings bank accounts which were paid by the banks to the defendant. Prior to February 1, 1906, both of the accounts stood in the name of Catherine Slighter, and upon that day were changed as follows: One “to Miss Catherine Slighter or Miss Mary H. Crandell, joint account, payable to either or to the survivor of either”; the other to “Mary H. Crandell or Catherine Slighter, payable to either or the survivor of either.” The complaint alleges that the change in the form of the accounts was made for the purpose of convenience in withdrawing money or making deposits. It thereby impliedly admits that the changes were made by Catherine Slighter, and her capacity to make them. Assuming, therefore, that the changes were her acts, we are to consider their effect.

The new Banking Law (chapter 369, Laws of 1914), at section 249, declares, in substance, that a deposit made in substantially this form shall be deemed the property of the persons named, as joint tenants, and that the making of the deposit in such form shall, in the absence of fraud or undue influence, be conclusive evidence, in any action or proceeding in which either such savings bank or the surviving party is a party, of the intention of both depositors to vest title to such deposit and the additions thereto in such survivor. I think this statute was not intended to be an enactment of a new law, but was rather a declaration of the existing law upon the subject. We need not, therefore, consider whether the law would otherwise be retroactive; it seems to declare a rtile of evidence, a presumption arising from the acts of parties entirely consistent with their acts. The fact that the form of the account was not changed after the enactment of the statute carries with it an inference that the statute fairly carried out the intent of the parties. In this case the defendant was not related to the decedent, but had lived with her since childhood, and it does not appear that decedent’s relatives had taken any particular interest in her welfare. We must therefore assume that the accounts of the defendant and of the decedent in the one bank were merged by the consent of both, which in itself would indicate an intention that the change was not made as a mere matter of convenience, but was made to create and declare the property rights of the parties in the deposit. The. other account, changed the same day in substantially the same form, was evidently opened for a like purpose.

The judgment should therefore be affirmed, with costs. All concur.