In Re Estate of Nichols

OPINION

REID, Chief Justice.

This case presents an appeal from an adjudication by the trial court, affirmed by the Court of Appeals, that certain certificates of deposit, issued to the decedent, Ruby Lee Nichols, and her only child, Jerald Nichols, as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, be distributed according to the terms of the decedent’s last will and testament rather than to the surviving tenant.

Prior to her death, the decedent purchased or renewed seven certificates of deposit in the total amount of approximately $165,000. The last certificate was purchased on February 17, 1989,…