## Facts

- A husband and wife were Mexican citizens and domiciliaries and lived in Mexico throughout their long marriage.
- During the marriage they held community property in Mexico, later liquidated into cash.
- The spouses deposited the cash in a Texas bank account and signed a written agreement creating a joint tenancy with right of survivorship.
- After the husband died, the wife claimed the entire account balance as the surviving joint tenant.
- The decedent’s children from a prior marriage sued in Texas, claiming a share as heirs and arguing that Mexican marital-property/succession rules should control because the funds originated as Mexican community property.
- The trial court granted summary judgment for the children on the theory that Texas law governed disbursal of the Texas bank deposit.

## Issues

1. Whether ownership and disbursal of funds on deposit in a Texas bank account are governed by Texas law or by Mexican law when the deposit derives from Mexican community property and the parties are Mexican domiciliaries.
2. Whether a Texas joint-account agreement creating survivorship is enforceable according to its terms against claims by the decedent’s heirs invoking foreign community-property and succession rules.

## Decision

- The court of appeals reversed the summary judgment for the children.
- Texas law governed the disbursal of the deposit held by the Texas bank.
- The survivorship language in the account agreement was enforceable, entitling the surviving spouse to the entire account balance.
- The children were not entitled to recover any portion of the deposit based on Mexican community-property or succession principles as applied to the Texas bank account.

## Legal Principles

- The law of the jurisdiction where a bank deposit is maintained (and where the account contract is made and performed) governs rights to the deposit, including survivorship consequences.
- Under Texas law, a written joint-account agreement providing for right of survivorship transfers the account balance to the surviving party upon the other party’s death when statutory/contractual requirements are satisfied.
- The foreign origin or marital-property character of the funds does not displace Texas law governing the bank-account relationship and the disbursal of a Texas deposit at death.

## Conclusion

The court held that a Texas bank deposit subject to a written survivorship agreement is distributed under Texas law, so the surviving spouse took the entire account balance notwithstanding that the funds were proceeds of Mexican community property and the parties were Mexican domiciliaries.


Ossorio v. Leon, 705 S.W.2d 219 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 1985, no writ)