Summary
The Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed dismissal of Lois E. Wright's claims for conversion and breach of fiduciary duty against George Zantuhos concerning bank accounts held jointly with the decedent. The court held that the decedent intended the accounts to pass to Zantuhos by right of survivorship, outside the probate estate, and that the will did not control their disposition. The court also held that the burden of proof did not shift because Zantuhos did not act as attorney-in-fact when he was added to the accounts.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the bank accounts were joint accounts with rights of survivorship or accounts created merely for the decedent's convenience and therefore part of the probate estate.
- Whether the decedent's will controlled the disposition of the jointly held accounts.
- Whether the burden of proof should have shifted to Zantuhos because he was the decedent's attorney-in-fact and participated in adding his name to the accounts.
Holdings
- The trial judge properly found that the accounts were held jointly with rights of survivorship and that the decedent intended to make a completed gift of the joint interest to Zantuhos. The burden remained on Wright, and she failed to prove that the decedent did not intend to create the gift.
- The 2010 will did not control the disposition of the accounts because the accounts passed outside probate by operation of the rights of survivorship. A nonprobate transfer need not be expressly included in the will to be effective.
- The trial judge properly declined to shift the burden of proof to Zantuhos because he was not acting as the decedent's attorney-in-fact when she added him as a joint owner and did not actually transact with the principal within the scope of the fiduciary relationship.
Key quotations
“"A provision for a nonprobate transfer on death in an . . . account, agreement, . . . deposit agreement, . . . or any other written instrument effective as a contract, gift, conveyance or trust, is nontestamentary"” (at 8)
“"If an owner of property can find a means of disposing of it inter vivos that will render a will unnecessary for the accomplishment of [her] practical purposes, [she] has a right to employ it."” (at 9)
Factual background
Helen Euerle, who had no children, executed a 2010 will leaving the residue of her estate to her grandniece, Lois E. Wright, with a contingent disposition to George Zantuhos and another beneficiary. At Euerle's direction, in 2018 and 2019 three existing bank accounts and a newly opened account were placed in Euerle's and Zantuhos's names as joint accounts with rights of survivorship. Euerle told Zantuhos that the accounts were his and that she had established one account because she wanted him to have the money. Euerle died in February 2021, after which Zantuhos retained the account funds.
Procedural history
Wright commenced a civil action in the Superior Court alleging conversion and breach of fiduciary duty based on Zantuhos's retention of funds in bank accounts held jointly with the decedent. After a bench trial, the judge found that the decedent intended the accounts to pass to Zantuhos at her death and dismissed the complaint. Wright appealed, and the Appeals Court affirmed.