- 10 - Petitioner offered the testimony of Richard, Linda, and Marsha to establish decedent's intent. Richard testified that he was in decedent's hospital room when she asked Marsha to make gifts to family members. Our analysis of the record as set forth below leads us to conclude that this event never occurred. Linda's testimony was vague and unconvincing. She stated that decedent intended to make gifts to family members, but could not recall whether it was Marsha or decedent that provided her with this information. Marsha's testimony, however, is the key element in our determination whether decedent intended to make these transfers. Marsha testified that decedent kept her checkbook at the hospital and that she and decedent wrote their checks out of this checkbook. The record indicates, however, that (1) on December 12, 1990, decedent wrote checks numbered 2299, 2300, 2301, 2302, 2303, 2305, and 2306; (2) on December 15, 1990, Marsha wrote eight $10,000 checks numbered 2425, 2426, 2430, 2433, 2434, 2435, 2439, and 2440; and (3) from December 21, 1990, through January 3, 1991, decedent wrote checks with numbers ranging from 2312 to 2333. The check numbers would not be so out of sequence if they were written, as Marsha says, only days apart and out of the same checkbook. When Marsha was asked on direct examination why the $10,000 checks dated December 15, 1990, were not deposited by her and the other donees until January, she replied that "we were allPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011