H. B. 2250
(By Delegates Williams, Carper, Phillips,
H. White, Rutledge and Harrison)
[Introduced February 23, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Banking and Insurance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirty-three, article four,
chapter thirty-one-a of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
joint deposit accounts.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty-three, article four, chapter thirty-one-
a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-
one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
§31A-4-33. Deposits in trust; deposits in more than one name;
limitation on liability of institutions making
payments from certain accounts.
If any deposit in any banking institution be made by any
person describing himself in making such deposit as trustee for
another, and no other or further notice of the existence and
terms of a legal and valid trust than such description shall be
given in writing to the banking institution, in the event of the
death of the person so described as trustee, such deposit, or anypart thereof, together with the interest thereon, may be paid to
the person for whom the deposit was thus stated to have been
made.
When a deposit is made by any person in the name of such
depositor and another or others and in form to be paid to any one
of such depositors, or the survivor or survivors of them, such
deposit, and any additions thereto, made by any of such persons,
upon the making thereof, shall become the property of such
persons as joint tenants; and the same, together with all
interest thereon, shall be held for the exclusive use of the
persons so named, and may be paid to any one of them during the
lifetime of them, or to the survivor or survivors after the death
of any of them; and such payment and the receipt or the
acquittance of the one to whom such payment is made shall be a
valid and sufficient release and discharge for all payments made
on account of such deposit, prior to the receipt by the banking
institution of notice in writing, signed by any one of such joint
tenants not to pay such deposit in accordance with the terms
thereof. Prior to the receipt of such notice no banking
institution shall be liable for the payment of such sums.
Notwithstanding that a deposit becomes the property of the
depositor and another or others as joint tenants, the deposit in
a banking institution, and additions to such deposit, by whomever
made shall be subject to the pledge to the banking institution of
the deposit, and any additions to the deposit, by any one of the
joint tenants, without regard to the lack of any considerationfor the pledge to the other joint tenant or tenants, if the
pledge is made prior to the receipt by the banking institution of
notice in writing, signed by any one of the joint tenants, not to
permit such a pledge. If a pledge is made prior to the receipt
of such notice, the banking institution shall not be liable to
any one of the joint tenants for its recourse against the deposit
in accordance with the terms of the pledge even if recourse is
taken after the receipt of such notice.
Further notwithstanding, that a deposit becomes the property
of the depositor and another or others as joint tenants, a
banking institution may pay the deposit, without regard to the
receipt of any form of notice from any one of the joint tenants,
to a creditor or other claimant of any one of the joint tenants
as its response in due course to legal process employed by the
creditor including, but not limited to, garnishment, suggestion,
or execution, and a banking institution shall upon such payment
be released and discharged from all payments on account of such
deposit:
Provided,
That the fact of the payment by a banking
institution shall be without any prejudice to any joint tenant's
reclaiming of, or seeking reimbursement for, the deposit from the
creditor or other claimant to the extent of the joint tenant's
interest in the deposit.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify when and to
what extent a joint deposit account may be pledged by one of the
joint tenants of the joint deposit account and to further clarify
when and to what extent a joint deposit account may be paid overto a creditor of one of the joint tenants to the joint deposit
account in response to legal process employed by a creditor.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.