Shourek v. Stirling

In Shourek v. Stirling, 621 N.E.2d 1107 (Ind. 1993), a niece withdrew funds from a joint account shortly before her aunt's death. The aunt made all contributions to the joint account. The personal representative sought to recover the funds after the aunt's death. The Indiana court addressed provisions in the Indiana code similar to our Probate Code sections 62-6-103 and 104. The Supreme Court of Indiana held the funds in the account presumptively belonged to the aunt during her lifetime unless clear and convincing evidence of a contrary intent was established. The court found that for the statutory presumption of survivorship to apply, the funds must have remained on deposit when the aunt died. Since the niece withdrew the funds prior to her aunt's death, the court held the niece had to establish her entitlement to the funds without the benefit of the presumption. The court noted that although the deposit agreements gave the niece the right to withdraw funds from the account, the agreements did not create an ownership right in the funds that were withdrawn. The court remanded the case to the trial court to determine if an inter vivos gift had occurred.