Pemberton v. Bragg

190 Wash. 420
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMay 24, 1937
DocketNo. 26428
StatusPublished

This text of 190 Wash. 420 (Pemberton v. Bragg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pemberton v. Bragg, 190 Wash. 420 (Wash. 1937).

Opinion

Geraghty, J.

Olive Daub, a resident of Seattle, died testate October 13, 1930, leaving an estate consisting wholly of her interest in the community property of herself and her surviving husband, Albert Daub. Her will was admitted to probate and letters testamentary were issued to the husband, named in the will as executor.

Paragraph two of her will is as follows:

“I hereby give, bequeath and devise unto my husband, Albert Daub, all of my interest in the community property with the power to sell and convert the same and to use, for his own purposes, all of the income and net profits thereof during his life and while he shall remain unmarried, together with such part of the principal sum as he shall determine to be necessary and proper, provided that any expenditures by him of the principal sum of all of said community property shall be deemed to be made one-half from his share and one-half from my share, to the end that at the time of his death one-half of the principal sum of the estate which he may then leave, shall be deemed to be the remainder of such principal hereby bequeathed to him.”

The will further provides that, upon the death of her husband, such portion of her share of the community property “as shall be remaining in his hands” [422]*422shall go, after the payment of certain specified bequests, to Edward Clarence Bragg, her brother, and Edward Johnson Bragg, a nephew, share and share alike. Provision is made that, in case either of the Braggs died prior to the death of her husband, the whole remainder should go to the survivor.

The estate was probated in due course and final decree of distribution entered July 2, 1931. The decree contained the following provision, giving rise to the present controversy:

“Said Albert Daub is hereby further ordered and directed to pay the state of Washington from the funds of said estate, the inheritance tax due the state of Washington from said estate, and since the will of said deceased bequeathes and devises to Albert Daub, surviving husband of said deceased, more than a life interest in the estate of said deceased, said inheritance tax now due the state of Washington shall be figured and determined at the same rate as if said estate and the whole thereof were willed and distributed to said Albert Daub, husband of said deceased; and upon the death of said Albert Daub, the remainder of said estate that shall not have been used or consumed by said Albert Daub during his life, shall be taxed at such rate of inheritance tax as the laws of the state of Washington shall then provide, without any deduction on account of inheritance' tax now paid by said estate to the state of Washington.”

The interest of Olive Daub in the community estate, after allowable deductions, had been appraised at $257,498.48. On this valuation, the executor, pursuant to the terms of the above quoted provision of the decree of distribution, paid to the state $7,374.92, being the amount that would have been payable had the wife’s will vested in him the absolute title to the whole of her estate. If the procedure provided in Rem. Rev. Stat., § 11205 [P. C. § 7056], for determining the value of life estates and estates in remainder had been [423]*423followed in computing the tax due from the estate, the total tax would be $8,864.99, or $1,490.07 more than the sum paid. This difference arises from the higher rates chargeable to the interests passing to the brother and nephew.

Upon the death of Albert Daub, leaving his wife’s estate undiminished, a question arose as to the amount of tax payable by the remaindermen, Edward Clarence Bragg and Edward Johnson Bragg, on account of the estate passing to them under the will of Olive Daub. By stipulation with the inheritance tax and escheat division, the remaindermen paid the tax claimed by the division to be due in accordance with the provision of the decree of distribution, with an agreement that they would be refunded any amount adjudicated to be in excess of their actual liability.

After a hearing on the petition of the remainder-men, filed under Rem. Rev. Stat., § 11216 [P. C. § 7067], for a determination of the amount of tax due in the Olive Daub estate, the court reached the conclusion that the quoted provision of the decree of distribution was beyond the jurisdiction of the superior court; that the amount of tax payable from the estate of Olive Daub, as of the date of her death, was $8,864.99; that $7,374.92 had been paid, leaving a deficiency of $1,490.07, which, with interest, made an aggregate deficiency of $2,096.03, against which the estate was entitled to a credit for the payment of $1,825.00 by legatees other than those here involved; thus leaving a net balance due the state of Washington of $271.03.

A decree was accordingly entered adjudging this latter sum to be the amount due the state, and directing repayment by the state to the remaindermen of all in excess of this sum paid by them under the stipulation. The supervisor of the inheritance tax and escheat division appeals from the decree.

[424]*424The supervisor’s appeal is principally grounded upon the contention that the provision in the decree of distribution providing for the payment of an inheritance tax in futuro is binding upon the parties as res judicata. While the appeal turns upon this point, as incidental to it there is involved to some extent the character of the estate vested in Albert Daub, as well as the qüestion whether the remainders passing to the Braggs were vested or contingent.

The parties are in substantial agreement that Albert Daub took a life estate, and that the remainders passing to the Braggs were vested rather than contingent. But the supervisor urges that the legal questions involved were sufficiently uncertain at the time of distribution to warrant an adjustment in the way of compromise under Rem. Rev. Stat., § 11215 [P. C. § 7066], providing:

“Whenever an estate charged, or sought to be charged with the inheritance tax, is of such a nature, or is so disposed, that the liability of the estate is doubtful, or the value thereof cannot, with reasonable certainty, be ascertained under the provisions of law, the state board of tax commissioners may compromise with the beneficiaries or representatives of such estates, and compound the tax thereon; but said settlement must be approved by the superior court having jurisdiction of the estate, and after such approval, the payment of the amount of the taxes so agreed upon shall discharge the lien against the property of the estate.”

The record does not support the suggestion that the quoted provision in the decree was made by way of compromise under this section. The only circumstance justifying an inference that the adjustment was made by way of compromise is the acquiescence of the inheritance tax and escheat division in the decree. But, in any event, the decree finds no support in this [425]*425section. The section contemplates the present payment of the tax agreed on by way of compromise and furnishes no authority either to the inheritance tax and escheat division or to the court to assume the function of establishing an extra-statutory rule effective in the future.

The supervisor is not aided by Rem. Rev. Stat., § 11206 [P. C. § 7057], cited by him in support of the decree. The first paragraph of the section is as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
190 Wash. 420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pemberton-v-bragg-wash-1937.