Trust of Rose P. McManus v. McManus
Annotate this CaseA dispute arose when four siblings disagreed over how the estate of their mother should be divided. Elizabeth Cullen, sister and trustee of the estate, filed a petition to discharge her duties and to distribute the trust’s assets. Her brothers Daniel and Albert McManus, and sister Jane Martino, objected. They counterclaimed, alleging that Ms. Cullen misappropriated trust funds by failing to include a bank account as part of the trust’s assets. The trial court entered judgment in favor of the siblings. Ms. Cullen appealed. The bank account at issue was a “joint account” on which Ms. Cullen was a co-signor with her mother. Ms. Cullen argued that the account, by virtue of her as a named co-signor, granted her the right-of-survivorship, and that the money in the account passed to her alone. The Supreme Court found that without the official “right-of-survivorship” designation from the bank, the account did not give Ms. Cullen survivorship rights. The Court affirmed the lower court’s decision in favor of the siblings.
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