136 Misc. 690 | N.Y. Sur. Ct. | 1930
This is an appeal by the executrix of the estate of the above-named decedent from the report of the transfer tax appraiser filed herein on December 30, 1929, and the pro forma order of the surrogate entered thereon on January 31, 1930, on the following grounds: That various transfers made by the decedent prior to her death were taxed as gifts in contemplation of death; that certain realty taxes on decedent’s property for the year 1928 were disallowed as deductions against the estate.
(1) As to the first ground of appeal, the decedent died a resident of New York county on March 16, 1928, and left surviving as her only next of kin her daughter, Dolorita Helen Fitzgerald. Through careful management of her properties, she amassed a fortune of over a million and a half dollars. Between July 31, 1922, and February 23, 1926, the decedent assigned eight mortgages and conveyed two parcels of property to her daughter. On September 23, 1927, the decedent assigned three other mortgages and on March 22, 1927, conveyed four additional parcels of property to her daughter. These last seven transfers to the daughter were made within two years prior to the decedent’s death. The entire seventeen transfers were included in the appraiser’s report as taxable. The executrix claims that they are exempt from taxation. Under sections 220
(2) The second ground of the appeal is overruled. At the time of the death of the decedent on March 16, 1928, the taxes upon real estate in the city of New York were not due and payable. (Greater New York Charter, § 914, as amd. by Laws of 1916, chap. 17.) Under the authorities they did not constitute debts of the decedent and should not have been allowed as deductions by the appraiser. (Matter of Appell [No. 2], 199 App. Div. 580; affd., 234 N. Y. 600; Matter of Freund, 143 App. Div. 335; affd., on opinion below, 202 N. Y. 556; Matter of Maresi, 74 App. Div. 76.)
Submit order on notice in accordance with this decision.
As amd.— [Rep.
Amd. by Laws of 1925, chap. 144, and Laws of 1928, chap. 549.— [Rep.