Bunting v. Bunting

760 A.2d 989, 60 Conn. App. 665, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 543
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedNovember 14, 2000
DocketAC 19378
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 760 A.2d 989 (Bunting v. Bunting) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bunting v. Bunting, 760 A.2d 989, 60 Conn. App. 665, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 543 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

Opinion

LAVERY, C. J.

The defendant, Peter Bunting, executor of the estate of James E. Bunting, appeals from the judgment of the trial court ordering a proration of the tax burden of the estate of James Bunting in accordance [667]*667with General Statutes § 12-401 and affirming, in part, the decisions of the Probate Court. The plaintiffs1 cross-appealed. On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) permitted the introduction of evidence of the decedent’s intent as to the payment of federal estate and state succession taxes and (2) ordered the Probate Court to effect distribution of the estate after a proration of taxes. On their cross appeal, the plaintiffs claim that the trial court improperly (1) refused to include in the probate estate bank accounts transferred by the decedent into joint ownership with the defendant and (2) refused to order the defendant to transfer to the estate shares of stock from the Tompkins County Trust Company (Tompkins Trust) that he received from the estate for distribution to the residual legatees in the will. We affirm the judgment of the trial court in part and reverse it in part.

The following facts and procedural histoiy are relevant to this appeal. The defendant is the son of James Bunting, the decedent. The plaintiffs Mansfield Lyon and Daniel Lyon are children of the decedent’s wife from a prior marriage. The plaintiff Elizabeth Bunting is the defendant’s sister. The defendant is the executor of the decedent’s estate. In 1988, the decedent’s wife died, bequeathing her entire estate, including an interest in the Adaleen M. Winton Trust, to her husband.

The decedent created and operated a business named Bunting & Lyon, Inc. On August 31, 1988, the decedent transferred to the defendant, as a gift, all of the outstanding stock of Bunting & Lyon, Inc. (Bunting & Lyon stock), that previously had been held by the decedent and the building in which the business operated. No gift tax was paid at that time.

[668]*668On October 30, 1989, the decedent executed a new will that was drafted by his attorney. Article I of that will provided in relevant part: “I direct that any estate, succession, inheritance, death or transfer tax arising by reason of or in any way in connection with my death, be paid out of my estate as an expense of administration thereof, without apportionment or contribution.” The will also provided that, after certain specific bequests, the residue of the decedent’s estate, including his interest in the Winton trust, be distributed to the defendant and the plaintiffs, per stirpes.

In 1991, the decedent moved into a retirement community and began transferring securities and bank accounts that he owned into joint ownership with the defendant. Following the decedent’s death in 1994, the estate was subject to a federal estate tax of approximately $370,000, and a state succession tax of approximately $90,000. The inventory of the estate, however, amounted to only $400,000, before deducting other estate expenses.2 The defendant used all of the assets of the estate and approximately $100,000 of his personal funds to pay the taxes, leaving nothing for distribution to the residual beneficiaries.

The plaintiffs objected to the final account filed by the defendant with the Probate Court. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendant improperly charged the estate with federal taxes attributable to the inter vivos gifts and failed to recover and include as assets of the estate bank accounts owned by the decedent jointly with the defendant. On September 30,1997, the Probate Court overruled these objections, and the plaintiffs appealed to the Superior Court. Thereafter, the defen[669]*669dant filed an amended final account, to which the plaintiffs also objected. After the Probate Court approved the amended final account, the plaintiffs appealed to the Superior Court. The appeals were consolidated and tried together as a single appeal from probate.

On February 22,1999, the trial court issued its memorandum of decision, holding that (1) Article I of the will did not use language sufficient to overcome the statutory presumption in favor of proration, (2) the j oint accounts created by the decedent with the defendant prior to the death of the decedent should not be returned to the estate and (3) the Tompkins Trust stock that the defendant transferred from the estate to himself should not be returned to the estate. Accordingly, the court remanded the matter to the Probate Court for a distribution with the tax burden prorated and dismissed the other grounds of appeal. This appeal and cross appeal followed.

I

The defendant first claims that the trial court improperly applied the law in ascertaining the decedent’s intent as to the payment of death taxes. Specifically, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) admitted parol and extrinsic evidence of the decedent’s intent as to the payment of death taxes and (2) used a “whole will” and “surrounding circumstances” approach in determining the decedent’s intent when the will was clear and unambiguous. The defendant contends that the court, accordingly, improperly concluded that the language of the will was insufficient to overcome the presumption in favor of the proration of death taxes. We address each of these contentions in turn.

A

The defendant claims that the court improperly admitted parol and extrinsic evidence as to the dece[670]*670dent’s intent concerning the payment of death taxes. We disagree.

“Our standard of review for evidentiary matters allows the trial court great leeway in deciding the admissibility of evidence. The trial court has wide discretion in its rulings on evidence and its rulings will be reversed only if the court has abused its discretion or an injustice appears to have been done. . . . The exercise of such discretion is not to be disturbed unless it has been abused or the error is clear and involves a misconception of the law.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Zollo, 36 Conn. App. 718, 723, 654 A.2d 359, cert. denied, 234 Conn. 906, 660 A.2d 859 (1995).

Our Supreme Court has stated that it is “the cardinal rule in the settlement of estates that where possible the testator’s expressed intention should be carried out . . . .” Waterbury National Bank v. Waterbury National Bank, 162 Conn. 129, 135, 291 A.2d 737 (1972). In interpreting the testator’s intent, “[w]e admit parol evidence of the meaning of the testator in the use of some term or word in a will when the meaning is equivocal or ambiguous.” Stearns v. Stearns, 103 Conn. 213, 221, 130 A. 112 (1925). “A court [however,] may not stray beyond the four comers of the will where the terms of the will are clear and unambiguous.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Canaan National Bank v. Peters, 217 Conn. 330, 337, 586 A.2d 562 (1991).

The decedent’s will provided that all estate and succession taxes should be treated as expenses of administering the decedent’s estate and should not be apportioned among the legatees. The question is whether this provision is ambiguous.

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Bluebook (online)
760 A.2d 989, 60 Conn. App. 665, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bunting-v-bunting-connappct-2000.