Estate of Cowling v. Estate of Cowling, 109 Ohio St.3d 276, 2006-Ohio-2418
May 31, 2006OUTCOME: Established a new legal standard for the ownership of joint and survivorship accounts.
Plaintiff was an older women suffering from dementia. During her 31 year second marriage, she earned approximately 74% of the couple's income, which was deposited into various joint and survivorship a ... ccounts. After Plaintiff began to suffer the affects of dementia, her husband, the Decedent (the Decedent's Estate was the named Defendant) transferred all of the assets held in the joint and survivorship accounts into accounts in only his name. The Decedent then designated those accounts as either payable on death or transfer on death with his children from a previous marriage listed as beneficiaries. Decedent died, causing all of the assets to be transferred to the listed beneficiaries. Plaintiff sued to recover her portion of the assets that passed to the beneficiaries. Plaintiff won at trial. The beneficiaries appealed and the Ohio Ninth District Court of Appeals reversed the judgment and dismissed the case. While the appeal was pending, Plaintiff died and her Estate was substituted as a party. Plaintiff's Estate appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. The Ohio Supreme Court reversed the Ohio Ninth District Court of Appeals decision and reissued the original judgment. The Ohio Supreme Court made clear that during the lifetime of the owners of a joint and survivorship account, that the parties own the funds in said account in proportion to their net contributions unless another intent is proven by clear and convincing evidence. For the first time, the Ohio Supreme Court adopted the Uniform Probate Code definition of "net contributions".
