Plаintiff administratrix of the estate of Anna Glinisty filed a bill of complaint July 10, 1962, asking that the funds in two joint and survivor savings accounts which were in the names of decedent and defendаnts Alexander Giinisty and Vera Wallman, two of decedent’s four children, be declared part of decedent’s estate, and that an injunction issue forbidding payment оf funds from the accounts until further order of the court. 1 After trial the chancellor ordered the complaint dismissed, from which order plaintiff appeals.
*588 Of significance in this appeal is that paragraph of CL 1948, § 487.703 (Stat Ann 1957 Rev § 23.303) 2 which provides:
“The making of the deposit * * * [in the names of two or more persons, payable to either or thе survivor or survivors] shall, in the absence of fraud or undue influence, be prima facie evidence, in any action or proceeding, to which either such banking institutiоn or surviving depositor or depositors is a party, of the intention of such depositors to vest title to such deposit and the additions thereto in such survivor or survivors.”
This Cоurt has held that this statute creates a statutory presumption that funds placed in a joint and survivor bank account are intended to be the property of the survivor or survivors. See
Jacques
v.
Jacques
(1958),
This reasoning is consistent with our recent decision in
In re Wood Estate
(1965),
In this case of Kirilloff, decedent Anna Glinisty visitеd the Bank of Commerce on January 15, 1959, in the company of defendant Wallman, her daughter. Mrs. Glinisty had consulted with her attorney the day before, but we have no reсord of what they discussed. Plaintiff called as a witness John Ellesin, manager of the savings department of the bank.
Ellesin testified that in his conversation with Mrs. Glinisty she asked whether she could open an account in the names of herself and her four children, to which Ellesin replied, “That’s up to you. You can [sic] put all of them; you can рut one or two.” He testified that he told Mrs. Glinisty that only those named on the account’s signature card and presenting the pass book could withdraw funds from the acсount, and that “You can put the account on two names or one name or you can go ahead and make a will.” The signature card recited that thе funds represented by the account book were “the property of the undersigned, as joint tenants, and shall be payable to either of [sic] the survivors in accordance with the laws of the State of Michigan.”
According to Ellesin, the reason given by Mrs. Glinisty for opening the joint and survivor account was to provide access to the funds in the event of her illness. Even if Mrs. Glinisty had intended that during her life defendants have access to the account only for her benefit, it does not necеssarily follow that she did not intend that defendants have those funds upon her death. See
Jacques
v.
Jacques
(1958),
Ellesin also testified that Mrs. Grlinisty told him, “ ‘In case anything happens to me, I want that money divided four ways.’ ” Plaintiff argues that since Ellesin so testified, and since the chancellor stated that he bеlieved Ellesin was telling the truth, it necessarily follows that, despite the statutory presumption in defendants’ favor, they are not entitled to the funds in the bank account.
The defendants offered the expected testimony of Mrs. Grlinisty’s indomitable intention that, upon her death, they benefit from the deposited funds. Wo might note that we are nоt convinced that there were any disinterested witnesses, even Ellesin having testified that he did “a lot of business” with plaintiff’s husband. Prom the evidence presented, two inferеnces were open to the chancellor. Mrs. Grlinisty was of unchallenged competency, owned her own home, supported herself by her own labor, hаd long maintained a savings account in defendant bank, sought, the day after having talked with an attorney, to change the nature of that account, was specifically informed by Ellesin of the incidents of a joint and survivor account, signed a document detailing those incidents, and maintained the account unchanged until her death three years later. The significance of analogous facts, as indicating that a depositor “obviously knew the nature and purpose of bank deрosits of the character here involved”, was recognized in
Lau
v.
Lau
(1943),
*591 Defendants contested none of the facts just recited, but instead introduced what we called in Wood inferentially inconsistent evidence, that is, evidencе which, while not controverting the evidence from which a presumed fact might be inferred, nonetheless could give rise to an inference inconsistent with the existence of the presumed fact. We refer here to Ellesin’s testimony that Mrs. Glinisty said she wanted the money in the account divided among her four children. One could infer frоm this evidence that despite the explanation given Mrs. Glinisty about the incidents of a joint and survivor account she nonetheless intended that the funds on deposit аt her death be divided among her four children.
Faced with two conflicting inferences, the chancellor chose to draw the one supported by the statutory presumption, to which “some weight may be given * * * as embodying a course of experience.”
In re Wood Estate
(1965),
No other question raised upon appeal merits discussion.
Affirmed. Costs to appellees.
Notes
The two joint and survivor accounts involved in this litigation differ only in amount and in the fact that one is a time savings account while the other is a demand savings aeeount. For convenience, we treat this appeal as if only one bank account were involved.
This statute and еases decided thereunder are the subject of an article by Professor Wellman in 63 Mich L Bev 629 (1965) : The: Joint and Survivor Account in Michigan — Progress Through Confusion.
Ellesin testified about Mrs. Glinisty’s visits to the bank after opening the joint and survivor account:
“A. She was coming to the bank for deposits, and every time she stopped and says, ‘Well, is that all right? Did anybody toueh my money?’
“X says, ‘Mrs. Glinisty, don’t be afraid, nobody can take your money except you or the other two, in case they’ve got the book.’ ”