| Storozynski v Storozynski |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 01792 [60 AD3d 754] |
| March 10, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Alexander Storozynski, Respondent, v Beata Storozynski,Appellant. |
—[*1]
In an action to determine the rights to certain funds in two joint bank accounts, the defendantappeals, by permission, from an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Lally, J.), enteredDecember 3, 2007, which, upon a decision of the same court dated May 24, 2007, made after anonjury trial, finding that the two accounts were the property of the Estate of GeorgeStorozynski, directed her, inter alia, to turn the two bank accounts over to the plaintiff.
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The Supreme Court properly determined that the two joint bank accounts held in the namesof the defendant, Beata Storozynski, and her former husband, the now-deceased GeorgeStorozynski, were the property of the decedent's estate. "While there is a presumption that theparties to a joint account are each entitled to an equal share (Banking Law § 675), it iswell settled that the presumption is not conclusive and may be rebutted by evidence showing thatthe depositor established the account for convenience and not with the intention of conferring apresent beneficial interest on the party claiming the half share" (Matter of Friedman, 104AD2d 366, 367 [1984], affd 64 NY2d 743 [1984]). On this record, the statutorypresumption was successfully rebutted (see Viggiano v Viggiano, 136 AD2d 630 [1988];Wacikowski v Wacikowski, 93 AD2d 885 [1983]), and thus the defendant was notentitled to the funds in the two bank accounts. Skelos, J.P., Ritter, Florio and Miller, JJ., concur.