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McKeehan v. McKeehan

Three weeks prior to his death, Dale McKeehan and his wife, appellant Marcia McKeehan, executed a change request form to add her as joint owner of his interest in Ford Motor Credit Co.'s Ford Interest Advantage investment program. In subsequent probate court proceedings, Dale McKeehan's children from a previous marriage, appellees Mark Cameron McKeehan and Robin Leigh Mullenix, successfully argued in a cross-motion for summary judgment that Marcia McKeehan's joint ownership of the Ford investment held no survivorship rights under Texas law, and thus, the Ford investment should pass to Dale McKeehan's testamentary beneficiaries as part of his probate estate. The Ford investment program is subject to a valid choice-of-law provision requiring that Michigan law be used to govern and construe the Ford investment program. Under Michigan law Marcia McKeehan and Dale McKeehan held the Ford investment as joint tenants with right of survivorship. The trial court's summary judgment is reversed and rendered that ownership of the Ford investment passed to Marcia McKeehan as the surviving joint owner. Austin Court of Appeals, No. 03-10-00025-CV, 07-06-2011.

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OPINION

Three weeks prior to his death, Dale McKeehan and his wife, appellant Marcia McKeehan, executed a change request form to add her as joint owner of his interest in Ford Motor Credit Company’s Ford Interest Advantage investment program. In subsequent probate court proceedings regarding his estate, Dale McKeehan’s children from a previous marriage, appellees Mark Cameron McKeehan and Robin Leigh Mullenix, successfully argued in a cross-motion for summary judgment that Marcia McKeehan’s joint ownership of the Ford investment held no survivorship rights under Texas law, and thus, the Ford investment should pass to Dale McKeehan’s testamentary beneficiaries as part of his probate estate. Because we hold that the Ford investment program is subject to a valid choice-of-law provision requiring that Michigan law be used to govern and construe the Ford investment program, and because under Michigan law Marcia McKeehan and Dale McKeehan held the Ford investment as joint tenants with right of survivorship, we will reverse the trial court’s summary judgment and render judgment that ownership of the Ford investment passed to Marcia McKeehan as the surviving joint owner.

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