222 Mich. 327 | Mich. | 1923
This case involves the ownership of $5,655 on deposit in the First National Bank of Kalamazoo, standing in the name of Mrs. Charles Nurrie at the date of her death. Plaintiff, Charles Nurrie,
It not infrequently happens that the circumstances which develop in a case and which are established beyond cavil are more persuasive than the testimony falling from the lips of interested witnesses. Such is the instant case. The circumstances all point one way. They are aided by disinterested testimony and drive one reading this record to the conclusion reached
Where money is paid to a wife or child there is a presumption that it is a gift or an advancement (Waterman v. Seeley, 28 Mich. 76); but this is a rebuttable presumption. Smith v. Smith, 215 Mich. 556. In the last cited case we quoted with approval from the case of Adlard v. Adlard, 65 Ill. 212, the following language:
“It is, no doubt, as argued by appellant’s counsel, a natural presumption that a husband, placing his money in the hands of his' wife, to be invested in her name, intends it as a specific provision for her exclusive benefit, yet such a presumption would be unreasonable when a husband, a day laborer, deposits with his wife his daily, weekly, or monthly earnings as he receives them, with a view, as they accumulate, to a permanent investment, leaving such investment to her own judgment, retaining nothing in his own hands, and making no provision for his own future.”
This language is particularly applicable to the facts of the instant case. If plaintiff had given this money to his wife he had practically stripped himself of his business capital and the means of. going ahead with his contract. The circumstances and the testimony above referred to rebut any presumption which the law created. We need not review at length the testimony introduced by defendant. No shadow of doubt can be cast upon that given by the executor. The mother and sister were called as witnesses'; both gave testimony tending to show admissions of plaintiff that the money belonged to his wife; both testified that they came to visit deceased in December and remained until after her death, that on the evening of their • arrival she showed the bank book of the account in question, said it was hers, and that plaintiff acquiesced
The decree will be affirmed, with costs.