FRANK H. HARRISON, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF JAMES RONALD LEATHERS, DECEASED, APPELLANT,
v.
BERNARD HUBER AND HELEN HUBER, HIS WIFE, AND MARGARET BRADLEY, APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 1985-01-16
No. 84-981
GRIMES, A.C.J., and CAMPBELL, J., concur.
463 So. 2d 1190 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1985) Caution
Cited by 16 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Harrison sought to retain $35,000 from a certificate of deposit opened in the names of "James R. Leathers or Frank H. Harrison" after Leathers' death, claiming survivorship rights. The court affirmed the trial court's summary judgment that the account lacked survivorship language necessary to create a joint account with right of survivorship under Florida law, but remanded for consideration of Harrison's other potential ownership interests.


Holding

The court held that opening a certificate of deposit in two names without survivorship language does not create a joint account with right of survivorship. Some language indicating survivorship is required to invoke the rebuttable presumption of survivorship under section 659.291(1).


Headnotes

[1] A certificate of deposit opened in the names of two individuals with the word "or" between their names, and without any specific language of survivorship, does not create…

[2] Florida Statutes section 659.291(1) creates a rebuttable presumption of survivorship for accounts held in the names of two or more persons, but requires some language ind…

Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“Unless otherwise expressly provided in the signature contract card or other similar instrument delivered to and accepted by a bank in connection with the opening or maintenance of an account, including a certificate of deposit, in the names of two or more persons, whether minor or adult, payable to or on the order of one or more of them or the surviving account holder or holders, all such persons and each person depositing funds in any such account shall be presumed to have intended that upon the death of any such person all rights, title, interest and claim in, to, and in respect of, said deposits and account and the additions thereto, and the obligation of the bank created thereby, less all proper set-offs and charges in favor of the bank, shall vest in the surviving account holder or holders.”

This establishes the statutory framework governing survivorship accounts, requiring express language indicating survivorship intent.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

In November 1979, a certificate of deposit was opened at Sun Bank in the names of "James R. Leathers or Frank H. Harrison" with no survivorship langua…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
OTT, Judge.

OTT, Judge.

In this appeal from a nonfinal order, Frank H. Harrison, individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of James Ronald Leathers, deceased, seeks review of the trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of appellees. We affirm and remand.

In November, 1979, a certificate of deposit was opened at the Palm Harbor office of Sun Bank (a commercial bank) in the names of “James R. Leathers or Frank H. Harrison.” No language concerning sur-vivorship was contained in the certificate of deposit. Leathers died in March of 1980. Shortly thereafter, Harrison redeemed the $35,000 certificate of deposit and placed the funds in his personal account.

Appellees, residual beneficiaries of the estate of James R. Leathers, filed suit against Harrison, individually and as the personal representative of the estate, seeking inter alia recovery of the funds from the certificate of deposit.

Appellees moved for partial summary judgment seeking a determination that Harrison had no right or entitlement to the proceeds of the certificate of deposit. In its order granting appellees’ motion for partial summary judgment, the trial court phrased the issue before it as follows:

Whether or not the opening of a certificate of deposit in the names of “James R. Leathers or Frank H. Harrison,” with no reference of any kind of survivorship, is sufficient to create a joint account with right of survivorship.

Without discussion, the trial court determined that the above-mentioned account style did not create a joint account with right of survivorship.

The narrow legal issue addressed by the trial court in the order granting appellees’ motion for partial summary judgment is controlled by section 659.291(1), Florida Statutes (1979),1 which provides:

Unless otherwise expressly provided in the signature contract card or other similar instrument delivered to and accepted by a bank in connection with the opening or maintenance of an account, including a certificate of deposit, in the names of two or more persons, whether minor or adult, payable to or on the order of oné or more of them or the surviving account holder or holders, all such persons and each person depositing funds in any such account shall be presumed to have intended that upon the death of any such person all rights, title, interest and claim in, to, and in respect of, said deposits and account and the additions thereto, and the obligation of the bank created thereby, less all proper set-offs and charges in favor of the bank, shall vest in the surviving account holder or holders.

We are not persuaded by appellant’s position that the opening of an account in two names, even without survivor-ship language, automatically creates an account with right of survivorship. As we read the governing statute, some language indicating survivorship is required to invoke the rebuttable presumption of survivorship. See Fortman v. Freedom Federal Savings and Loan Ass’n of Tampa, 403 So. 2d 985 (Fla. 2d DCA), pet. for review denied, 402 So. 2d 609 (Fla.1981) (interpreting savings and loan association rules). Accordingly, we hold that the lower court correctly found the opening of a certificate of deposit in a commercial bank in the names of “James R. Leathers or Frank H. Harrison,” without more, did not create a survivorship account under section 659. 291(1).

We have addressed only the narrow legal issue contained in the lower court’s order. The order was partial and was limited to the same narrow legal issue addressed by this court. The order did not address or dispose of other issues, such as what ownership interest appellant may have in the certificate of deposit, if any.

AFFIRMED and REMANDED.

GRIMES, A.C.J., and CAMPBELL, J., concur. . Section 659.291 was renumbered section 658.-56 and amended by chapter 80-260, § 46, Laws of Florida effective July 1, 1980.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Rosecrans v. Eden, 538 So. 2d 970 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989)
    …y to overcome such presumption; providing for vesting in survivors or survivor upon death of any one, in absence of requisite proof to overcome presumption; and providing an effective date. The court interpreted section 658.56 in Harrison v. Huber, 463 So. 2d 1190, 1191 (Fla. 2d DCA), dismissed, 469 So. 2d 749 (Fla.1985) and stated, As we read the governing statute, some language indicating survivorship is required to invoke the rebuttable presumption of survivorship. See Fortman v. Freedom Federal Savings a…
  • In re The Est. OF Philip Randall Heyes v. Rea Quackenbush, 515 So. 2d 377 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)
    …t upon falling ill with cancer was persuaded by a visiting nephew to alter that ownership to create with him joint tenancies with the right of survivorship. 487 So. 2d at 336. A case more factually similar to the instant case is Harrison v. Huber, 463 So. 2d 1190 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985), in which a certificate of deposit was opened at the Palm Harbor office of Sun Bank (a commercial bank) in the names of “James R. Leathers or Frank H. Harrison.” No language concerning survivorship was contained in the certificat…
    1 / 2
  • In re Est. OF John W. Clement v. Clement, 568 So. 2d 1297 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)
    …dence relied upon by the appellee to establish that these accounts were surviv-orship accounts was a document signed only by Mr. Clement. This document does not refer to survivorship status and states only: “or Gladys Clement.” In Harrison v. Huber, 463 So. 2d 1190 (Fla. 2d DCA), cause dismissed by, 469 So. 2d 749 (Fla.1985), this court held that some language of survivorship is required to invoke the presumption of survivorship and that the opening of an account in the name of the decedent or another person d…

Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw