143 N.Y.S. 672 | N.Y. Sur. Ct. | 1913
“that is either one of us before or after the death of the other may sign drafts or orders on said account and receive the money thereon before or after the death of the other, and at the death of either the survivor shall take absolute and single ownership of the balance then due the account.”
From the affidavits submitted to the appraiser it appears that none of the husband’s money was deposited in this account, but that the deposit consisted entirely of decedent’s money. About five days before the death of decedent she asked her husband to draw $15,000 from the account and to use this sum in purchasing for himself an automobile and stock securities. The husband drew the said amount of $15,000 and placed it in his personal account. At the time of decedent’s death there was a balance of $2,034.58 on deposit in the joint account. The appraiser included this amount, together with the $15,000 deposited in the husband’s personal account, in the taxable assets of decedent’s estate. The executor contends that this was error; that neither the $2,-034.58 nor the $15,000 is subject to a transfer,tax as part of decedent’s estate. The transfer tax statute provides that a tax shall be imposed when the property is transferred by will, by the intestate laws, or as a gift given in contemplation of death, or intended to take effect at or after death. If the transfer is effected in any other way it is without the statute, and therefore not subject to a tax. The decisions of the courts of this state upon the question of the taxability of the interest of the survivor in a joint account are not uniform. In the Matter of Stebbins, 52 Mise. Rep. 438, 103 N. Y. Supp. 563, it appeared that the money deposited belonged to the decedent, and that the deposit was made “Julia A. and H. H. Stebbins, either or the survivor of them may draw.” It was held that the money on deposit at the death of the decedent was not subject to a transfer tax. In the Matter of