Master Finds That Estate Accounting Fairly Valued Decedent’s Farming Business and That a Bank Account was a Convenience Account as Opposed to a Joint Account

IMO Estate of Harold E. Marvel, ROW Folio No. 152 Master Griffin (October 1, 2018)

       This case dealt with exceptions to a final accounting for an estate. The exceptant claimed that the estate accounting undervalued the decedent’s farming business because, among other reasons, it should have been valued as a sole proprietorship with the decedent being the sole owner. The Master disagreed. She concluded that the farming business was properly valued and also that it was a corporate entity in which the decedent had only a partial interest.

       Based on the decedent’s apparent intent given the evidence presented, the Master also found that a bank account at issue was a convenience account as opposed to a true joint account.