In re McKinney

101 A.D.2d 477
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMay 21, 1984
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 101 A.D.2d 477 (In re McKinney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re McKinney, 101 A.D.2d 477 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

[478]*478OPINION OF THE COURT

Brown, J.

The issue for our determination on this appeal is whether the tax exoneration clause contained in the will of Jane Eloise Cecilia McKinney exonerates the property passing out of the residuary estate from the tax apportionment scheme of EPTL 2-1.8 (subds [a], [c]) thereby permitting all of the estate tax, including the tax imposed on the residuary, to be paid out of the residuary. We conclude that, under the circumstances of this case, apportionment of the residuary estate is required since there is no clear and unambiguous direction to the contrary in the will.

Jane Eloise Cecilia McKinney died on October 4, 1979, leaving an estate valued at $4,704,773.96. In her will dated August 1,1975, Ms. McKinney nominated petitioners Dennis L. O’Connor, Dennis T. Doyle and The County Trust Company (which, apparently, was replaced by petitioner The Bank of New York), as her executors, and, in addition, provided for payment of her debts, obligations and administration and funeral expenses. The dispute before us concerns the language of article third of the will, the tax exoneration clause, and article seventh of the will, the residuary clause. Article third reads as follows: “third: I direct that all my estate, transfer, inheritance and like taxes, including interest and penalties, if any, imposed or assessed by the United States or New York State Governments, or any duly constituted authority, upon or with respect to property passing under this my Will, and any property passing outside of my Will, which is required to be included in the taxable estate, including that property passing by the terms of a trust created by me this date, be paid out of my testamentary residuary estate herein and that no portion thereof shall be apportioned to or collected from the specific bequests contained in this Will or from distributions made from said trust”.

Article seventh reads as follows:

“seventh: After payment of all expenses, taxes and specific bequests as aforesaid, all of the rest, residue and remainder of my property * * * I hereby give, devise and bequeath as follows:
[479]*479“(a) Seventy (70%) per cent, thereof to st. agnes hospital, White Plains, New York, the same to be used by said hospital as its directors shall see fit for any and all the purposes for which the said hospital was organized.
“(b) Thirty (30%) per cent, thereof to Dennis L. O’Con-nor”.

Articles fourth, fifth and sixth of the will contain various preresiduary bequests. Additionally, in 1972, the testatrix created a revocable inter vivos trust which was amended on the date of the execution of the will to make the shares and trust remainderman of the trust the same as that of the residuary estate to wit, 70% of the trust proceeds to St. Agnes Hospital and 30% to Dennis L. O’Connor.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
101 A.D.2d 477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mckinney-nyappdiv-1984.