Supreme Court of Oklahoma Rules that Contract with Bank is Conclusive

In In re Estate of Metz, No. 106807, 2011 WL 1262164 (Okla. April 5, 2011), the decedent created a bank account and named his nephew as a joint tenant with right of survivorship. Both men executed a share account signature card. After the decedent’s death, his stepchildren and step-grandchildren alleged that the decedent intended the funds in the joint account to revert to his estate following his death.

A divided Supreme Court of Oklahoma held that the surviving nephew was the owner of the account. The court found that the signatures of both men on the account’s signature card stating that the account was joint with rights of survivorship was unambiguous. The court held that the unambiguous nature of the signature card could not be varied by testimony showing that the surviving non-contributing nephew agreed to not exercise control over the account during the contributing decedent’s lifetime.

Special thanks to William LaPiana (Professor of Law, New York Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.