Reynolds v. Smith
Reynolds v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
On October 19, 1959, Albert D. Smith and Doris I. Smith, then husband and wife, of Wallingford, Connecticut, and Howard E. Reynolds, of East Haven, Connecticut, executed a promissory note, by the terms of which, for value received, they jointly and severally promised to pay to the order of General Industrial Bank, of New Haven, two years after date, the sum of $2100. In April, 1961, the bank brought suit against the accommodation maker, Howard E. Reynolds, alone, alleging that “[o]nly $576.00 has been paid on the principal sum of said note, and the defendants have committed several defaults under the terms thereof, on account of which the plaintiff [the bank] has exercised its option and declared the entire balance due thereon, to wit: the sum of $1524.00 to be due and payable.” An attachment was made in that action of Howard E. Reynolds’ interest in certain realty, situated in the town of East Haven, acquired by warranty deed, in survivorship form, on August 8, 1956, by “Howard E. Reynolds and Agnes Reynolds, and unto the survivor of them, and unto such survivor’s heirs and assigns forever.” Howard E. Reynolds died on November 2, 1961. He was survived by Agnes Reynolds, the present plaintiff. Because the decedent’s real estate was subject to the bank’s lien of attachment by virtue of its suit, Agnes Reynolds made a compromise settlement with the General Bank and Trust Company, successor corporation to the General Industrial Bank.
Agnes Reynolds seeks in this action against Albert D. Smith and Doris I. Smith (now Doris Pierce), the original makers of the note, to compel them to reimburse her for the compromise settlement, amounting to $871.50 and certain costs (item
The statute, § 47-14f, so far as its provisions are pertinent here, provides that “[d]uring the life of any joint tenant his interest may be attached . . . in the same manner as if he held his interest as a tenant in common; provided, upon the death of any joint tenant owning that interest, such attachment . . . shall likewise continue valid and enforceable against that interest as and when it accrues to the surviving tenants or tenant by reason of such death.” It is to be noted in this connection that § 47-14k, captioned “Applicability of statutes,” makes the statute we are considering, § 47-14f, applicable to “any conveyance or devise creating a joint tenancy in the manner provided in section 47-14a made prior to and existing on June 29, 1959 . . . ; unless a person claims said sections do not
In Dennen v. Searle, 149 Conn. 126, which permitted a right of survivorship to be annexed to an existing tenancy, Mr. Justice King, construing an “unartfully drawn instrument” (p. 128) executed on June 21, 1948, pointed out (p. 133 n.2): “No claim was made that this legislation [§§ 47-14a to 47-14k] applied to this case, which was instituted on March 24, 1960, nor were any facts proven indicating that the legislation was applicable. See General Statutes § 47-14k. Consequently, we were not called upon to resort to this liberalizing legislation in the disposition of this appeal.” See Curtis v. Smithers, 20 Conn. Sup. 321 (survivorship provision created joint tenancy).
Prior to 1959, in Hughes v. Fairfield Lumber & Supply Co., 143 Conn. 427, the Supreme Court held that an attachment upon realty under a survivorship deed is extinguished by the death of the debtor spouse.
For reasons set forth herein, the demurrer must be and is overruled.
Professor Stephenson, in analyzing the rule in Curtis v. Smithers, thought that the deed in that case, “whose like, it is to be hoped, will never be encountered again [in Connecticut],” was treated by Judge Thim “with more kindness than it deserved.” 34 Conn. B.J. 28-29.
One commentator bemoaned the fact that the court refused to give a label to Hughes’s interest in the realty. See Comment, “Survivorship Deeds and Joint Tenancy in Connecticut,” 31 Conn. B.J. 70, 71.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.