California Trust Co. v. Bennett

The executor of the will of Charlotte Bennett, deceased, appeals from a judgment awarding to defendant, the husband of decedent, the sum of $7,950 which was originally her separate property. The money was in a safe deposit box at the time of her death, and the principal question presented on appeal is whether the record supports the trial court’s conclusion that defendant and his wife held the contents of the box in joint tenancy.

The box was rented from a bank by decedent in August, 1945, about six months before her death. At that time she told the bank clerk that she wanted her husband to…