Opinion ID: 2212708
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: joint tenancy account

Text: Petitioner, relative to that portion of the order dealing with the joint tenancy account, submits that at a hearing held before the county court, the parties entered into a stipulation whereby the account has been taken over by the guardian, reinvested, and identified as held without prejudice to any right of any claimant. There is, therefore, no controversy over the use or control of the account. Again, there is no showing the interest of the ward would be advanced by any further action involving the account. The guardian and Mrs. Stetson urge that litigation over the status of the account while Mrs. Schober is living is necessary to avoid the argument that the presumption provided in Minn.St. 528.04, that the funds on deposit in a joint account belong to the parties in proportion to the net contribution by each, disappears upon the death of one of the parties and is replaced by the presumption stated in § 528.05, that the sums remaining on deposit belong to the surviving party unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intention  . It is noted that the stipulation changes the status of the joint account. The fund is now deposited in the name of the guardian. Whether the statutory presumption would now apply to that fund has not been raised by the parties. Nevertheless, the responsibility of overcoming the presumption is minor compared to exposing the ward's assets to the costs of litigation, particularly where no demand is made to the fund and the same is properly invested. Writ made absolute. YETKA, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.