## Facts

- In May 1997, John Henry M. Chamberlin opened a single-party certificate of deposit (CD) account at American National Bank with no pay-on-death (POD) beneficiary.
- The bank used a standard account form and, consistent with its practice, gave Chamberlin the original form while retaining two copies in its own records.
- Chamberlin died on April 16, 1999. His will named his sister, Ivorie Pearl Newman, as the personal representative of his estate.
- On August 31, 1999, Newman directed the bank to transfer the CD funds, and the bank deposited about $50,000 (the CD proceeds) into the estate’s checking account.
- Alfred Thomas, Chamberlin’s friend who helped him with errands and household chores, later went to the bank and claimed Chamberlin had made Thomas a POD beneficiary on the CD before death.
- Thomas produced Chamberlin’s original account form. On that original, someone had typed “POD ALFORD THOMAS [sic]” in the POD area and placed a handwritten “x” in the box labeled “Single Party Account with Pay on Death.”
- Next to the POD box was a space for the owner’s initials, but that space was blank on the form Thomas produced.
- The bank’s two retained copies did not contain the typed POD language or the handwritten “x,” and the bank had no other document or record showing that Chamberlin requested a POD designation for Thomas.
- No one at the bank could identify who made the changes appearing on Chamberlin’s original copy.
- Newman filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a ruling that the CD proceeds were estate property and moved for summary judgment.
- Thomas opposed summary judgment and sought additional time for discovery, proposing an expert examination regarding what typewriter typed the POD notation.
- The district court granted summary judgment for Newman, concluding the Nebraska Probate Code required Chamberlin to give the bank signed written notice to add a POD beneficiary and that the requirement was not met. Thomas appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the Nebraska Probate Code requires the owner of a non-POD, single-party account to give the financial institution signed written notice to add a POD beneficiary.
2. Whether summary judgment for the estate was proper when the bank’s records contained no signed written notice or other record reflecting a POD designation, and the only evidence was an altered, unsigned customer-held form.

## Decision

- The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Newman.
- The court held that the Nebraska Probate Code requires an account owner to give the financial institution signed written notice to add a POD beneficiary to a non-POD, single-party account.
- Because the bank had no signed written notice or other record showing Chamberlin added Thomas as a POD beneficiary, Thomas did not take the CD proceeds by POD designation, and the proceeds belonged to the estate.
- The court also concluded that Thomas’s request for a continuance to pursue typewriter-related expert evidence would not change the outcome, because even proof about who typed the notation would not supply the statutory requirement of signed written notice by Chamberlin given to the bank.

## Legal Principles

- A POD designation on a single-party account is effective only if created in the manner required by the Nebraska Probate Code, including the requirement that the owner provide the financial institution signed written notice of the POD term.
- A customer-held document showing a POD notation, when not signed or initialed as required on the form and not reflected in the institution’s retained records, is insufficient to establish a valid POD designation.
- In a dispute over account ownership after death, the absence of a statutorily required signed writing in the financial institution’s records can be dispositive as a matter of law.
- Summary judgment is appropriate when the material facts are not genuinely disputed and the statutory condition for a nonprobate transfer (signed written notice to the institution) is not shown by the record.
- A request for additional discovery may be denied (or found immaterial) when the proposed evidence would not affect the legal requirement controlling the case.

## Conclusion

The Nebraska Supreme Court held that converting a non-POD, single-party CD into a POD account requires the owner to provide the bank signed written notice, and because Chamberlin did not do so in a manner reflected in the bank’s records, Thomas was not a valid POD beneficiary and the CD proceeds properly remained with the estate; the summary judgment for Newman was affirmed.


Newman v. Thomas, 264 Neb. 801 (2002)