69 A.D. 127 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1902
Timothy B. Blaokstone, whose estate is sought to be taxed under the Transfer Tax Law (Laws of 1896, chap. 908, art. 10, as amended) in this proceeding,- was a resident of the city of Chicago in the State of Illinois, and died in said city on the 26th day of May, 1900, leaving a last will and testament. For thirty-four years prior to March, 1899, he had been the president of the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company, a corporation formed under the laws of the State of Illinois. On the 28th day of March, 1899, the decedent, having concluded to sell his hold
On the 10th day of November, 1900, an application was duly made by the comptroller of the city of New York, upon a petition duly verified, setting forth the jurisdictional facts as required by the Transfer Tax Law, to the Surrogate of the county of New York for the designation of an appraiser to fix the market value of this property of the deceased within this jurisdiction which .was subject to the payment of the tax under the Transfer Tax Law .of this" .State. The surrogate acted thereon and appointed an appraiser, as required by the act, and such proceedings were thereafter had as resulted in a determination by the appraiser that the two sums of
Every question presented by this appeal has been settled by decisive authority. The facts as presented in Matter of Houdayer (150 N. Y. 37) involve, in principle, every question presented by the facts in this case, and arose under substantially the. same circumstances. The deposits were held to be money for all practical purposes, owned by the decedent at the time of his death, and as such taxable under the Transfer Tax Act of the State. Other authorities support this view. (Matter of Estate of Romaine, 127 N. Y. 80; Matter of Whiting, 150 id. 27; Matter of Bronson, Id. 1.)
It is urged that the comptroller is without authority to prosecute this appeal. Such question was settled adversely to the contention ■of the respondent upon the motion to dismiss the appeal in this case, where it was held that as the comptroller of the city of Xew York was authorized to institute the proceeding, he had authority to prosecute the appeal from the decision of the surrogate, although the powers and duties in respect thereto had devolved upon the Comptroller of the State. Such condition would authorize a substitution of the Comptroller of the State, but until such substitution is had the proceeding was properly prosecuted by the officer instituting it.
These are the only questions presented upon this appeal. It follows, therefore, that the order of the surrogate should be reversed, and the report of the appraiser confirmed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements to the appellant.
Van Brunt, P. J., O’Brien and Ingraham, JJ., concurred.
Order reversed and report of appraiser confirmed, with ten dollars costs and disbursements to appellant.