22 A.2d 821 | Pa. | 1941
This is an appeal from a decree of the orphans' court of Beaver County discharging a rule to show cause why certain assets, claimed by the administrator of Sarah Brown, deceased, to have been the property of the decedent and in her possession at the time of her death, should not be surrendered for administration as part of the estate.
Sarah Brown, the decedent, died intestate on December 25, 1938, leaving to survive her five sons, the oldest of whom, Leo Brown, the appellant, was appointed administrator of her estate on April 19, 1940. Leo Brown, as administrator, on August 19, 1940, filed a petition for a citation, directed to the Monaca Federal Savings and Loan Association and two of his brothers, Albert E. Brown and Robert R. Brown, appellees, for a rule to show cause why two investment share certificates and a savings share book or certificate, issued to "Sarah Brown, in case of death to Robert Brown and Albert *233 Brown, only" and representing accounts, aggregating $14,046.09, with the Monaca Federal Savings and Loan Association, formerly the Phillipsburg Building and Loan Association, should not be turned over to him or, in the event that the certificates could not be delivered, to show cause why their value at decedent's death, with interest and dividends, should not be paid to him as administrator. In addition to the securities, appellant also sought to recover, for the estate, a Dodge sedan automobile, now in possession of Albert E. Brown, the certificate of title to which was in decedent's name at the time of her death.
Prior to reorganization of the Phillipsburg Building and Loan Association, the endorsements on the securities in dispute read simply "Sarah Brown", but upon reorganization and the issuance of new certificates, several months before decedent's death, she told the secretary of the Association she wanted the new certificates "made out in these two names and payable to them only in case of her death", stating as her reason that "the other boys have inherited money from their father and have not taken care of the funds to her satisfaction." The secretary thereupon added the words "in case of death to Robert Brown and Albert Brown, only" and delivered the certificates to decedent, who placed them in a locked box or "toy bureau" in her home, used by her as a depository for her valuable and legal papers, where they remained until her death. Subsequent to the issuance of the new shares and up until her death, all dividends were paid to decedent, as before, and from time to time during this period she made withdrawals which, as the court below found, totalled $1,500. The securities and certificates of title to the automobile were found, after decedent's death, in the box where she kept her valuable papers, by the son Albert, who had obtained possession of the key to the box about six weeks before decedent's death, from a granddaughter to whom decedent gave the key, before leaving for a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, *234 where she underwent an operation and remained until shortly before her death, with instructions to give the key to him. In the interim between decedent's death and the grant of letters to appellant, the Association canceled the old certificates, upon their presentation to it by Robert R. Brown, and, after deducting inheritance tax payments, opened two new savings share accounts, one for Albert E. Brown and one for Robert R. Brown, in the sum of $6,995.79 each.
An answer was filed by appellee Albert E. Brown, claiming the automobile as a gift from his mother, during her lifetime, and at the same time all of the appellees filed answers, averring that upon the death of decedent the investment share accounts and savings share account became the absolute property of Albert E. Brown and Robert R. Brown, by virtue of the terms of the endorsements thereon. After hearing and argument before the court en banc, at which time appellees questioned the jurisdiction of the orphans' court to grant the relief prayed for, the court below held that it did have jurisdiction, but discharged the rule, holding, as to the securities, that "the writing on the certificates and book was not testamentary; nor did it create a trust; but evidenced a gift inter vivos, reserving to the donor the income, with a possible right of consumption of the principal, but whatever was left at the time of her death belonged to the two boys", and as to the automobile, that under the evidence title to it had passed to Albert E. Brown, by way of gift, during the lifetime of the decedent.
While the orphans' court possesses extensive powers to assist a decedent's personal representative to acquire control of property rightfully belonging to the estate, its jurisdiction being entirely of statutory origin, these powers may be invoked only within well defined ultimate limits, one of which is that the orphans' court cannot determine the validity of a disputed debt to an estate. See McGovern's Estate,
Whether the court below properly assumed jurisdiction over the dispute between appellant and the other appellees, involving specific property which appellant claims as part of the decedent's estate, depends upon different considerations. "If the property was in decedent's possession, either actually or presumptively, at the time of his death, or thereafter at any time came into the possession of his personal representative as part of the estate for purposes of administration and distribution, the jurisdiction of the orphans' court attaches, at least preliminarily . . . If the property is fairly to be regarded as having been in decedent's possession, either actually or presumptively, at the time of his death, but there is a substantial factual dispute as to ownership, *236
the orphans' court has no power, sitting as a fact-finding tribunal, to determine this question, but may submit the issue for a trial by jury, and a verdict so found will properly constitute the basis of a decree by that court settling the controversy": Crisswell's Estate,
It is, of course, well settled that the mere fact that the donor of a fund reserves the interest or income therefrom during his lifetime, thereby postponing enjoyment by the donee until his death, will not, of itself, defeat an intended gift inter vivos of the fund, if the donor shall have immediately transferred to the intended donee all *237
control and dominion over the principal of the fund, as by assignment or unconditional delivery of the written evidence thereof. See Funston v. Twining,
The mere fact of possession by the son, Albert E. Brown, of the key to the box in which the securities were kept by decedent, for a period of six weeks prior to decedent's death, is of no legal significance under the circumstances here presented, as appellees apparently concede, for they state that "nothing counts in this case but the written instruments." It is true that, where manual delivery is impracticable or inconvenient, delivery of the key to a receptacle, with a clearand unmistakable intent to make a gift, may be sufficient to establish a constructive or symbolical delivery of the property to which the key gives access: Elliott's Estate,
The omission on the part of appellee Albert E. Brown to obtain a certificate of title, issued in his own name, would subject him to the penalty imposed by section 201 of the Vehicle Code of May 1, 1929, P. L. 905, but such omission would not, of itself, defeat an otherwise valid gift to him of the Dodge sedan automobile by the mother, during her lifetime. SeeBraham Co. v. Steinard-Hannon Motor Co.,
Whether the circumstances relied upon to establish a gift of the automobile be viewed individually or collectively, we are of opinion that they show, at most, a possible intention to make a gift which was never consummated by delivery during the decedent's lifetime. And, in arriving at this conclusion, we are not unmindful that less evidence may be required to establish a gift where the relationship of parent and child exists than where the transaction is between strangers. SeeGongaware's Estate,
The decree is reversed as to appellees Albert E. Brown and Robert R. Brown and the record is remitted with instructions to reinstate the rule for a citation and to make a decree granting the relief prayed for as to them; as to the appellee Savings and Loan Association the decree is affirmed for the reasons stated in this opinion. Costs to be paid one-half out of the estate and one-half by appellees Albert E. Brown and Robert R. Brown.