Determining actual ownership of bank accounts after the death of a loved one can be challenging. There can be real differences in what the parties to the accounts, the beneficiaries of a trust, and the heirs of an estate believe and what they want. It is difficult at times to find a blueprint in which to operate. br A 2017 California Court of Appeal decision (Higgins v. Higgins) helps to identify some basic guideposts for ownership determination. The case arose from a lawsuit brought by the personal representative of an estate against a wife who agreed to hold funds in trust for her husband's stepmother. After her husband's death she changed the form of the accounts and used the funds for her own purposes. The Appellate Court concluded that the wife held the funds in the accounts in trust for the stepmother and the transfer of the accounts into her own name and use was a wrongful act supporting the imposition of a constructive trust...