Court Opinion

ID: 9743880
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:47:52.938954+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:44.668346
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE STOUDER dissenting: I do not agree with the majority of the court. Generally speaking, I agree that with respect to the usual joint survivorship account, the rule as announced in Murgic v. Granite City Trust and Savings Bank, 31 Ill.2d 587, 202 N.E.2d 470, is that from the creation of such an account there is a presumption of donative intent and that the burden is upon the contestant to prove the absence thereof. However I disagree with the opinion of the majority that such rule is applicable or uneffected by the existence of a fiduciary relationship between transferor and transferee when the latter is the dominant party in the relationship. Curtis v. Fisher, 406 Ill. 102, 92 N.E.2d 327, represents one of the more recent of a long line of cases which holds that transfers to the dominant party in a fiduciary relationship are "prima facie voidable” or “presumptively fraudulant”. Yet the majority holds on the authority of the Murgic case, that there is a presumption of gift even where the purported donee admittedly is the dominant party in a fiduciary relationship with the purported donor. The express intention in the Murgic case to stabilize rules in relation to joint survivorship accounts, is referred to as apparently being of overriding importance in any case involving such an account. I submit that such an overriding importance can not be attributed to the Murgic case. According to its own terms, it was primarily concerned with modifying or clarifying the pre-existing rule which held that the transferee of a transfer without consideration had the procedural burden of presenting evidence of donative intent. Such a rule as the court pointed out, has developed from that applicable to gifts of tangible personal property where at least the transfer of possession was a significant act. In the case of a joint survivorship account the donee might not even have any knowledge of the transfer and other than the agreement itself the practical means of proving a gift would be unavailable. Such considerations are not present when the transferee is the dominant party in a fiduciary relationship. To require the party contesting such a gift to establish absence of donative intent is to create an impossible burden contrary to the rationale for imposing the burden of proving fairness upon the fiduciary. To the extent that In re Estate of Foster, 104 Ill.App.2d 447, 244 N.E.2d 620, cited in the majority opinion, suggests that our usual rules relating to fiduciaries are inapplicable, such case is not of persuasive authority. To approve of a fiduciary’s right to the proceeds of a joint survivorship account because the contestant has failed to show an abuse of the confidential relationship as was done in the Foster case, announces a new rule fraught with potential mischief. Although.the result in the Foster case may be right because the donor may have secured independent advice and counsel, such facts are not clear from the opinion and the failure of the court to apply the usual fiduciary rules tends to obscure the validity of the result. Measured by our usual standards applicable to fiduciaries, no case has been made out establishing the fairness of the transaction as opposed to the presumption that the transaction was fraudulent and prima facie voidable. Absent such a showing the court erred in failing to require that the money be turned over to the estate.