Digest: Hamilton v Turner, 2018 SKQB 140

• Date: May 04, 2018

Reported as: 2018 SKQB 140

Docket Number: QB17532 , QBG 998/13 JCR

Court: Court of Queen's Bench

Date: 2018-05-04

Judges:

• Popescul

Subjects:

• Wills and Estates � Gifts � Inter Vivos

Digest: The deceased testator�s will left the residue of her estate to three of her children in equal shares. Her assets at death included two joint bank accounts with rights of survivorship with one of her daughters and one of her granddaughters respectively. The accounts contained substantial sums of money. Two of the beneficiaries under the will commenced an action that sought a declaration that the joint accounts be characterized as a resulting trust and considered part of the estate. The daughter and granddaughter, the joint account holders with the deceased, applied for summary judgment dismissing the plaintiffs� statement of claim and a declaration that the accounts were not part of the estate and should not be distributed in accordance with the will. They argued that the deceased�s intention was to benefit them by way of gift. The accounts had been opened at two different financial institutions in two different locations on different dates. The applicants submitted affidavits sworn by employees of each institution in which they described their standard practice of establishing with account holders whether they wanted to establish the joint account with or without right of survivorship. One employee knew the testator personally and deposed that she was very aware of the specifics of her various accounts and very sure of exactly what she wanted to do with them.
HELD: The application for summary judgment was granted and the court made an order declaring that the applicants were exclusive owners of the respective joint bank accounts. The court found that they had established on a balance of probabilities that at the time that the deceased opened the joint bank accounts, her intention was gift to the applicants the monies remaining in them at her death and they had rebutted the presumption of resulting trust.

Rules Considered:

• QB Rule...