Hare v. Longstreet, 531 S.W.3d 922 (Tex. App.—Tyler 2017, no pet.).
The signature card contained an “X” in a box
labeled “MULTIPLE-PARTY ACCOUNT WITH RIGHT OF SURVIVORSHIP” and both the
deceased and surviving joint parties initialed on the blank next the
box. Both the trial and appellate courts held that this indication was
insufficient to create survivorship rights in the surviving party.
The Tyler Court of Appeals explained that the
signature card lacked language substantially similar to the language
required by Estates Code § 113.151(b) (“On the death of one party to a
joint account, all sums in the account the date of the death vest in and
belong to the surviving party as his or her separate property and
estate.”). Merely stating that the account has the right of survivorship
is insufficient to make it so.
Moral: I think that most people would
assume that checking the box next to a phrase that said “with right of
survivorship” would be sufficient to create survivorship rights. Thus,
estate attorneys must have “eyes-on” all signature cards and account
contracts to ascertain whether the accounts of both their living and
deceased clients actually have the survivorship feature.