Fantozzi v. Lake View Trust & Savings Bank

Lena Fantozzi, the administrator of her husband’s estate, filed a citation to recover assets from Lake View Trust & Savings Bank. Her claim was premised on her discovery of a passbook among her husband’s effects, 24 years after his death. The passbook showed a balance of $35,605.13 in an account presumably opened by her late husband. The trial court denied Fantozzi’s petition for citation to recover assets.

On appeal, Fantozzi argues that the trial court erred in applying the rule that the law presumes payment of a debt that has been due and unclaimed for 20 years; the 20-year period had not…