Thompson's Estate

47 Pa. D. & C. 391, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 517
CourtPennsylvania Orphans' Court, Montgomery County
DecidedJuly 28, 1942
StatusPublished

This text of 47 Pa. D. & C. 391 (Thompson's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Orphans' Court, Montgomery County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thompson's Estate, 47 Pa. D. & C. 391, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 517 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1942).

Opinion

Holland, P. J.,

The question here is whether the adjudication of this court upon an administrator’s final account should be opened, and a claim of the collector of internal revenue for social security taxes owing by decedent allowed, although notice of the claim was not given until after the audit of the account.

Decedent died on May 19, 1938, intestate and insolvent. Letters of administration were granted to accountant on May 20, 1938, and were duly advertised as required by section 10 of the Fiduciaries Act of June 7, 1917, P. L. 447. The administrator liquidated the assets of the estate, paid administration expenses and funeral expenses, and, on May 23, 1940, filed his [392]*392first and final account showing a balance of $991.96 in cash for distribution.

The account was examined ánd audited by the court on October 2, 1940. In the petition for adjudication then filed, the unpaid claims of creditors, of which accountant had “notice or knowledge”, are set forth. A claim of $119 for medical services in decedent’s last illness was allowed preferred status. Two other claims were contended to be entitled to preference: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, delinquent contributions to unemployment compensation for 1937 and 1938 amounting to $867.75, plus interest; Fidelity & Casualty Insurance Company of New York, delinquent workmen’s compensation insurance premiums, $600.07. Both these claims were denied preference by the adjudication. That of the Commonwealth was held payable last, on the authority of Marberger’s Estate, 56 Montg. 30 (1939). Upon the same authority the claim for workmen’s compensation insurance premiums was allowed to share with the general creditors. The fourteen general claims, aggregating $9,061.60, were allowed and were awarded dividends on a basis of .0903529 in a schedule of distribution incorporated in the adjudication. Therein the preferred claim was also awarded.

The adjudication was filed and confirmed nisi on November 22, 1940. No exceptions thereto were filed so that according to rule 6, §1, of the rules of this court it became absolute on December 2, 1940.

In October 1940, the collector of internal revenue assessed delinquent social security tax against the decedent. A certified copy of the pertinent entries on the assessment list for that month in the office of the Collector of Internal Revenue for the First Pennsylvania District is in evidence. This shows that decedent’s account was debited on September 20, 1940, for delinquent 1937 tax, in the amount of $69.50, and on September 23, 1940, for delinquent 1938 tax, in the [393]*393amount of $92.29, a total of $161.79. The copy of the assessment list shows the assessment to be against “Samuel H. Thompson, 607 Washington St., Royersford, Pa., c/o Robert Thompson, 365 Second Ave., Phoenixville, Pa.” Robert R. Thompson is the administrator of decedent’s estate.

On November 7, 1940, the collector of internal revenue mailed a “Notice and Demand for Federal Unemployment Tax” for each of the amounts above set forth, plus interest to November 15, 1940. The “unpaid balance” shown thereon is $81.12 for 1937, and $102.22 for 1938, a total of $183.34. Copies of both notices were mailed by the collector, addressed to “Samuel H. Thompson, 607 Washington Street, Royersford, Pa., c/o Robert Thompson, 365 Second Ave., Phoenixville, Pa.” On November 22, 1940, a “Second Notice and Demand for Social Security Tax” for each year was mailed by the collector, addressed to “Samuel H. Thompson, c/o Robert Thompson, 365 2nd Ave., Phoenixville, Pa.” To the unpaid balance of the first notice, there is added a 25 percent penalty, then another penalty of five percent on top of that. The unpaid balances by that date had become: for 1937, $103.43; for 1938, $131.55; a total of $234.98.

The collector’s petition avers that he was advised of decedent’s death and of the adjudication upon the administrator’s account on November 30, 1940, after which a proof of claim was sent to the administrator. A copy thereof is attached to the petition, and is dated December 19, 1940. This claims a total of $223.79, composed of :'tax for 1937 and 1938, $161.79; interest to November 15,1940, for both years, $21.55; penalty on both years, $40.45. Interest at six percent is claimed from November 16, 1940. The figures are the same as those in the second notice, but without the further five percent penalty there included.

On June 13, 1941, the collector of internal revenue filed his petition to open the adjudication. A hear[394]*394ing was held on February 16, 1942, when the above-mentioned instruments were offered in evidence. Also submitted was an amended proof of claim, dated June 16,1941. This contains the same items as the original, plus an additional assessment for 1937 in the amount of $449.44, 25 percent penalty thereon amounting to $112.36, and interest of $89.19, calculated to May 22, 1941. The total thus claimed is $874.78, with interest on $225.79 from November 16,1940, and with interest on $650.99 from May 23,1941.

By reason of the notice from the collector of internal revenue, received after the audit of his account but before the adjudication thereupon, the administrator did not make distribution as directed therein. The balance shown by the account, less.an additional premium of $32 on his bond, is still in his hands.

The administration of this estate has been in conformity with the law of Pennsylvania. Notice by advertisement was given of the grant of letters, as required by section 10 of the Fiduciaries Act, and of the filing of the account, as required by section 46(d) of that act. It was not incumbent upon the administrator, under the Fiduciaries Act, sec. 46 (c), and rule 3, §9, to give the collector of internal revenue actual notice of the filing of the account because the latter had not given written notice of his claim. Having failed to present his claim at the audit of the account, an ordinary creditor would not be entitled to share in the distribution of these assets, under section 49(d) of the Fiduciaries Act. The only question is whether the Federal Government is in a different position from an ordinary creditor.

In United States v. Summerlin, 310 U. S. 414 (1940), it was held that a claim of the Government against a Florida decedent may not be barred although not filed uptil after the expiration of the eight months within which, under Florida statute, claims against decedents must be filed. The theory of the decision is that the [395]*395United States is not bound by a State statute of limitations, and that any statute which would invalidate the claim of the United States transgresses the limits of State power.

While the Florida probate procedure is not set out further in the report, it would seem that there is no direct or necessary connection between the time within which claims must be filed and the time when there is a proceeding actually before the probate court. The audit, or whatever the Florida equivalent is, if any, of a fiduciary’s account may not occur until long after the eight months’ period has expired. Hence the Government’s claim there may well have been filed before final judicial action, although after the statutory time limit for filing.

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Related

United States v. Childs
266 U.S. 304 (Supreme Court, 1924)
United States v. Summerlin
310 U.S. 414 (Supreme Court, 1940)
Pearsall v. Central Oil & Gas Co. of America
23 F.2d 716 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1927)

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Bluebook (online)
47 Pa. D. & C. 391, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompsons-estate-paorphctmontgo-1942.