## Facts

- Dorothy Edwards opened a savings account at Superior Federal Bank listing herself and Virginia T. Hall as “joint tenants with right of survivorship.”
- Edwards also maintained a Merrill Lynch joint brokerage account with Hall that provided the survivor would own all account property upon the other’s death.
- Edwards died on January 25, 1988.
- Hall demanded the Superior Federal funds as surviving joint tenant; the bank initially issued a check for $50,722.31 but later stopped payment after learning of a probate-court injunction restraining disbursement.
- Merrill Lynch refused to release the brokerage assets to Hall based on the same injunction.
- Hall sued the bank and Merrill Lynch to recover both accounts; the estate sought to preserve the assets pending a determination of ownership.

## Issues

1. Whether Ark. Code Ann. § 23-32-1005 makes a written joint-tenancy-with-survivorship designation on a covered deposit account conclusive, barring a constructive trust in favor of the decedent’s estate.
2. Whether § 23-32-1005 applies to a joint brokerage account held at an investment firm.
3. Whether, absent statutory conclusive effect, a court may rely on evidence of a confidential relationship and abuse to impose a constructive trust despite survivorship language.

## Decision

- Reversed in part and affirmed in part.
- As to the Superior Federal Bank account, the court held § 23-32-1005 controlled; the written survivorship designation conclusively established Edwards’s intent, and Hall took the account as survivor.
- As to the Merrill Lynch brokerage account, the court held § 23-32-1005 did not apply; the chancery court could consider extrinsic evidence and impose a constructive trust.
- The constructive trust was affirmed for the Merrill Lynch account and rejected for the bank account.

## Legal Principles

- For covered bank and savings-and-loan deposit accounts, a written designation of joint tenancy with right of survivorship under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-32-1005 is conclusive evidence of intent to vest title in the survivor.
- When § 23-32-1005 applies, parol or extrinsic evidence of a decedent’s contrary intent cannot be used to defeat the survivor’s statutory ownership.
- The statute’s conclusive-evidence rule is institution-specific and does not extend to brokerage firms.
- For non-covered accounts, courts may apply equitable doctrines, including constructive trust, based on proof of a confidential relationship and abuse that would make retention by the survivor inequitable.
- Appellate review defers to the chancery court’s factual findings on relationship dynamics and misconduct unless clearly erroneous.

## Conclusion

The court enforced statutory survivorship for a joint bank deposit account by treating the written designation as conclusive, but upheld a constructive trust for a joint brokerage account because the survivorship statute did not cover brokerage firms and equity could address abuse of a confidential relationship.


Hall v. Superior Fed. Bank, 794 S.W.2d 611 (Ark. 1990)