JACK L. TERNER, APPELLANT,
v.
FREDA RAND, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF RUTH C. TERNER, DECEASED, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1982-07-27
No. 81-1433
Before DANIEL PEARSON and FERGUSON, JJ., and OWEN, WILLIAM C., Jr. (Ret.), Associate Judge.
417 So. 2d 303 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1982) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases
Opinion of the Court
FERGUSON, Judge.

FERGUSON, Judge.

Owner of a Totten Trust may revoke it by any decisive act of disaffirmance. In Re Totten, 179 N.Y. 112, 71 N.E. 748 (N.Y.Ct.App.1904). See also Litsey v. First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Tampa, 243 So. 2d 239 (Fla.2d DCA 1971) (though Totten Trust may be revoked by any decisive act of disaffirmance, burden on one seeking to prove revocation by oral statements alone is exceedingly heavy). Where owner of trust delivered a document to her attorney which expressly revoked the “in-trust-for” accounts, beneficial interest of third-person was extinguished even though the document was not published in the owner’s lifetime. The passbook agreement between the owner and the bank specifying the method for changing title to the accounts is solely for the protection of the bank and is not a limitation upon the owner’s power to revoke a Totten Trust by any decisive act of disaffirmance. Jones v. First National Bank of Rome, 142 Ga.App. 18,234 S.E. 2d 794 (1977). As to the remaining issues no reversible error is shown.

Affirmed.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Lopez v. Rodriguez, 574 So. 2d 249 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)
    …2d DCA 1971); see Sanchez v. Sanchez De Davila, 547 So. 2d 943 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989). Whether a revocation or disaffirmance has occurred depends on the settlor’s intent. Euart v. Yoakley, 456 So. 2d 1327 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); Litsey; see Terner v. Rand, 417 So. 2d 303 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982). Lopez does not allege that during her lifetime Isabel took any steps that would indicate she intended to revoke or disaffirm the trust. Seymour; Serpa v. North Ridge Bank, 547 So. 2d 199 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989). Accordingly, we concl…
  • Vargas v. Preiscilla Vargas, 659 So. 2d 1164 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)
    …ghters during her lifetime. We find that they were. There are no formalities for the revocation of a Totten Trust and indeed, any decisive act or declaration of disaffirmance during the lifetime of the owner will suffice. See, e.g., Terner v. Rand, 417 So. 2d 303 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982) (delivery of a document to attorney expressly revoking Totten Trust sufficient even though document was not published in the owners lifetime); Ryder v. Sheldon, 69 A.D.2d 768, 415 N.Y.S.2d 35 (App.1979) (withdrawal of funds in tru…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw