During the course of the administration of an estate of a deceased person, a question often arises, as to whether a particular bank account forms part of the estate. If a bank account forms part of an estate, then it must be administered in accordance with the terms of the Will of the deceased.
Quite often, bank accounts are held by the deceased person, in joint names with another person, or persons, who survived the death the deceased.
The question then arising, is as to whether the surviving joint owner takes the remaining balance of the bank account, outside of the estate of the deceased, or whether the funds in the bank account, form part of the estate, and therefore, ought to be administered in accordance with the term of the Will.
This issue came before the High Court in the case of Miles Gilvarry –v- Maher. The Judgment in the case was delivered by Mr. Justice Gilligan on the 19th of December, 2014.
The proceedings concerned the estate of Michael Hoare, deceased. He made a Will on the 9th of November, 2006, and subsequently died on the 7th of April, 2007.
In his Will, the deceased made a number of bequests, and the main beneficiary was Jean Maher, a daughter of the deceased. Subsequently, a brother of Jean Maher, William Maylor, brought proceedings to set aside the Will, claiming that the deceased lacked the capacity to make the Will, or in the alternative, that the Will was procured due to the duress and undue influence of his sister, Ms. Maher.
Mr. Maylor was unsuccessful in those proceedings.
In these proceedings, the case concerned a bank account held in First Active.
The Court heard evidence from a bank official, in relation to the opening of the joint account. The bank official clearly recalled that the deceased, and Jean Maher arrived into the bank together, and that the deceased explained to the bank official that he wanted to open an account, in order to give money to his daughter, Ms. Maher. Her evidence was to the effect that Ms. Maher said that she did not want the money, but that the deceased was insistent.
The bank official suggested that they open a joint account, and that each of them would have access to the account during their lifetimes, but that on the death of either party, the survivor would be entitled to monies in the account.
She gave evidence that there were three types of bank account, which could have been opened, but that the parties chose a bank account, which was a joint account, of equal standing.
Mr. Justice Gilligan held that he accepted the evidence of the bank official, that on the opening of the joint account, it was clearly the intention of the deceased, Michael Hoare, that the account was to be a joint account in the names of himself and Jean Maher, and that both were to have access to the account during their joint lives, and that the monies were to pass to the survivor of them, on the death of the other party.
Mr. Justice Gilligan held that he did not accept that this account was not a bona fide account, and further held that as the account was a joint account, that Jean Maher was entitled to all of the proceeds of the funds, formerly held in the joint names of herself and her late father. He further held that those funds did not form part of the estate of the deceased, and therefore, passed outside the terms of his Will.
In the event of a dispute, between surviving next of kin, a Court can only assess the intention of the deceased, based on evidence relating to the time when the account was opened, or put into joint names. In this particular case, it was indeed fortunate that the bank official was available to give evidence, and that the bank official had a clear recollection of the opening of the account.
Patrick Mullins Solicitor
Partner
BDM Boylan Solicitors
Clarke’s Bridge House
Hanover Street
Cork
Ph: 021 4313333
pmullins@bdmboylan.ie
www.bdmboylan.ie