Edwards v. Pena, 38 S.W.3d 191 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2001, no pet.).
Depositor added Secretary’s name to a certificate of deposit
consisting entirely of Depositor’s funds. Years later, Depositor’s
Guardian redeemed the CD and purchased another CD in Depositor’s name
alone. After Depositor died, Secretary sued Guardian alleging that he
wrongfully deprived her of the CD. The trial court determined that
Depositor had made a gift of the CD to Secretary and that Guardian had
converted the CD.
The appellate court reversed. The court held that there was no evidence
that Depositor made a completed gift of the CD to Secretary. Depositor
retained an interest in the CD and did not divest herself of any
ownership rights in the CD. Surprisingly, the court did not cite Probate
Code § 438(a) which provides that ownership of a joint account is in
proportion to net contributions unless there is clear and convincing
evidence of a different intent. In this case, Secretary contributed
nothing and there was no evidence of a gift beyond Secretary’s name on
the CD.
Moral: Merely adding a name to a joint account does not, without clear
and convincing evidence to the contrary, imbue the new joint holder with
ownership rights over any of the funds in the account.