State Ex Rel. v. Young

7 P.2d 216, 44 Wyo. 6, 81 A.L.R. 114, 1932 Wyo. LEXIS 2
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 1932
Docket1714
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 7 P.2d 216 (State Ex Rel. v. Young) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. v. Young, 7 P.2d 216, 44 Wyo. 6, 81 A.L.R. 114, 1932 Wyo. LEXIS 2 (Wyo. 1932).

Opinion

*9 Blume, Justice.

This case relates to the inheritance taxes payable by the estate of Prank G. Curtis. The decedent died testate on March 16, 1922, leaving his widow and a number of other persons as beneficiaries under his will. In December, 1923, a so-called compromise agreement was entered into between the executors of the estate on the one hand and the inheri- *10 tanee tax commissioner with the approval of the attorney general of this state on the other, purporting to be made in accordance with See. 34, Ch. 126, Session Laws of 1921, which provides that whenever an estate from which an inheritance tax is due is of such a nature or so disposed that the value thereof cannot with reasonable certainty be ascertained under the provisions of the law, the inheritance tax commissioner may with the approval of the attorney general compromise with the beneficiaries or representatives of such estates and compound the taxes thereon, the settlement to be approved by the District Court having jurisdiction of the estate. According to this settlement, the assets of the estate were valued at approximately $1,783,-000, with deductible expenses of about $687,604, making the tax due the state $28,151.56, and an additional sum, if it should thereafter be found that 25,300 shares of the New York Oil Company stock which had been transferred to Mrs. Curtis within six months prior to the death of the decedent, should be held to be taxable under the laws of this state. This settlement was approved by the District Court, and it was ordered and adjudged that the inheritance tax due should be the amount as above specified. The sum of $10,000 of the tax was paid subsequently, in July, 1926. Nothing further was done in the matter until the fall of 1927. At that time the executor of the estate wanted a further deduction of approximately $421,000 by reason of the payment of that sum to the government of the United States on account of income tax due for the year 1919. On September 13, 1927, the inheritance tax commissioner made a new computation of the amount due, adding to the taxable property the sum of $253,000 on account of the New York Oil Company stock transferred to Mrs. Curtis as above mentioned, and allowing the foregoing sum of $421;-000 as a deduction, in addition to the deduction that had been allowed under the compromise agreement of 1923, leaving the inheritance tax then due in the sum of $24,-328.21. This amount not having been paid, an action was *11 brought in the name of the State by "William 0. Wilson, then Attorney General, on March 13, 1928, setting forth in the first cause of action, in general terms, the amount due from the Curtis estate as an inheritance tax and claiming judgment therefor, and setting forth in the second cause of action the compromise agreement of 1923 and asking judgment therefor and the enforcement thereof. Subsequently and on March 19, 1928, the attorneys for the Curtis estate and the Attorney General, with the approval of the inheritance tax commissioner, entered into a stipulation, reading, in part, as follows:

‘ ‘ That full compromise settlement of all matters in question between the State Inheritance Tax Department of Wyoming and the said Estate has this day been made as follows:
Said estate had paid over to said Department the sum of $19,473.02 in full payment of the tax agreed upon between the parties as covering all items and claims upon and against said Estate * * *
In consideration of the foregoing and on behalf of said Department, it is hereby agreed forthwith to dismiss the action, No. 6905, now pending in the District Court of Natrona County, Wyoming, in which the State of Wyoming ex rel. William O. Wilson, Attorney General, is plaintiff, and Minal E. Young, Executor of the Estate of Frank G. Curtis, deceased, is defendant; and forthwith to execute and deliver to said Minal E. Young, Executor, the necessary waiver by the State of Wyoming of all claims and demands of every nature on its part upon and against said Estate, and any of its properties, and especially upon the New York Oil Company stock belonging to said Estate.”

The further sum of $3481.38 was paid to the Inheritance Tax Commissioner, to be held in escrow until it should be determined whether or not a bequest of $50,000 to the Christian Science Church of Jamestown, New York, was taxable under the laws of this state. This amount, as we understand it, has since that time become the absolute property of the State, and the amount of inheritance tax, accordingly, paid herein is the sum of $32,954.40. On the *12 26th day of February, 1930, an order of dismissal was entered in the case last above mentioned, as follows:

‘ ‘ The above entitled cause coming on regularly for hearing on the stipulation of the parties and the court being fully advised in the premises, it is ordered that the said cause be and the same is hereby dismissed.”

In a previous order made in the same case the court recited that it had examined the petition in the cause and the stipulation filed in respect thereto. At the time of the deduction of $421,000 made as above mentioned, the question arose as to whether or not any part of that sum would be repaid by the Government of the United States. The executor of the estate testified that he told the deputy inheritance tax commissioner, who had this matter-in charge, that he had paid that sum under'protest and hoped to recover all or a part thereof. According to the testimony of the deputy inheritance tax commissioner, the matter was discussed and under consideration, but he disclaimed any knowledge of the fact that the payment had been made under protest. Subsequently the sum of about $189,000 of the amount so paid was recovered from, and repaid by, the United States, and the then inheritance tax commissioner claimed an additional tax of $4264.25 on this sum by notice sent to the executor of the estate on April 19, 1930. The executors refused to pay it, claiming that by reason of the settlement made in 1928 nothing more was due. Thereupon, the present action was commenced in the District Court of Natrona County in which again the compromise agreement of 1923 was sought to be enforced, but the state asked, as an alternative thereof, that an additional tax of $4264.25 be assessed on the sum of $189,000 repaid by the government of the United States as above mentioned. Issues were duly joined in the case, the defendants, among other defenses, relying on the settlement made in March, 1928, and claiming additional deductions by reason of further attorney fees and executor’s fees paid out by the estate *13 and not theretofore deducted in computing the inheritance tax due the state. The case was tried on the theory whether or not an additional tax was due on the above mentioned sum of $189,000, and the enforcement of the compromise agreement of 1923 was waived or not insisted upon. The court entered judgment holding the sum of $189,000 above mentioned taxable, but allowing a deduction against it in the sum of approximately $177,000 and giving judgment in favor of the state for $238.95.

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Bluebook (online)
7 P.2d 216, 44 Wyo. 6, 81 A.L.R. 114, 1932 Wyo. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-v-young-wyo-1932.