Macgregor v. Kawaoka

While plaintiff and appellant Maria Medeiros and Manuel Medeiros, now deceased, were husband and wife, Manuel, on October 29, 1940, opened a savings account in the Bank of Newman, defendant and respondent. This account stood solely in the name of Manuel. Shortly thereafter Manuel requested that the name of his son John be added to the account. He supplied a signature card signed by himself and John, which contained substantially the contract referred to in section 852 of the Financial Code. At all times material herein that statute stated that when a deposit is made in a bank by a person in the name of such depositor and another person and in form to be paid to either or the survivor, the deposit and any additions thereto become the property of such persons as joint tenants; and that the making of the deposit in that form, in the absence of fraud or undue influence, is conclusive evidence in any action or proceeding, to which either such bank or the surviving depositor is a party, of the intention of the depositors to vest title to the deposit and the additions thereto in such survivor. No new account in form was opened at the time Johns name was added to the account and no new number was assigned to it. During 1945 Manuel again went to the bank and orally requested an official thereof to strike the name of John from the records of the account and to substitute therefor the name of his wife Maria. This was done and a new signature card signed by Manuel and Maria was filed in the bank, containing in substance the same matter contained in the first signature card. Again no new number was given to the account and no new account in form was set up in the records of the bank. However, as to both transactions an official of the bank testified as follows: Since the first deposit by Manuel the bank had had only one account on its records; upon Manuels request that Johns name be entered on the account and upon receipt of the signature card signed by Manuel and John they had made the requested changes; they had taken Johns name off at the request of Manuel and had put Marias name on in its place when they had received the signature card of Manuel and Maria; the second transaction was supposed to have canceled out the first; the second joint signature card canceled out the first and the method followed was the way they generally handled such transactions in the bank. Manuel died on March 20, 1949. He was survived by Maria, his widow, and by two daughters and two sons by a former wife. On June 4, 1949, his daughter,