OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
GROVk-RSELLERS
ATTORNEYGLNLIAL
Honorable Lee Curtia
County :.t torney
Dell county
Belton, Texan
pear 31r: oplnlon NO. 0-6168
He: IO a in the
~111 Of Clmxle-QBryda, deceased,
aubjsot to the OtabQ i!lQeritanoe
tat?*--L \
'.\ '-5
fro.3 this d8&3artlsbEt reado at+roUma:
‘\ *' a
"I would like to havi..yoW&i4ion with rrt-
6r6no6 to aa lnhsrlmoe taqques)ion. The will
of Claude i!ekQyde.<“h bortltldg. oo or which is
hereto attuohed,'huQeeq 9 the County
court or Bellpouqty,~~xa+
‘a,)
%30tloni.fIi.ofthib.wiU provides as rol-
lows : '3ut or biw IJUZON~?rom+jthe corpus or q
estate,- e rlwi iharg60iigalnst same, I give
and b/queath to my.go~&irl~~nd,Hrs. Ruby Harms
- - ;'--.* - Ahe sumor +35;00 per month, to bo
pefi pat o.Z a+ lnoomnn the 1st day of eaoh
. nontK for an.$durinq her natural llre; the first
pSy3lbait to b&&e wlthln thlrty days arter the
probate,fl thl8 #Ill*.
'%bOtk'ndr the Will reads 88 rOiiOWLb:
“i 'devi& mi,..tkqueath all the rrst and maldue
of ay esti?tW- - - -, after the payment of an4
subject to the payment of the items hereinabove
set o:lt ln Faragraphs Xoe. I, II, and III here-
or, to Xary 3ardln-Baylor College, a private oor-
porttlon of 36lton, 3011 County, Texas, its S'JO-
cesnors ~~1~1 aSSli;ns, 11~ f66 Slmpl6; 1~ trWt,
hOWbVGr, r3r tiis ilses and purposes ~213 upon th6
conJltlons tersinaftcr Stated.'
Zonornbli Lmm Curtlm, pau,m 2
"Umry !imrdln-Saylor Co11646 im an mduoatloaml
. inmtlt.ttlon, ani 011 of the trust pur~omea arm ed-
uomtlons~, and thbrmlorm it 1s clear. I think, that
the estate dsvi8md to the Coll6~m la exempt from the
n-,atm inhmrltmnoe tax.
OR which I aa asking
*The problem your opinion
1s whethbr or not SsotlonIt1 or the .wlll coamtltutmr
a taxable bequest to llre.2uby Haram. Uary HarUin- .
Baylor Collmgm and L!rm, Aasna tmkm the positionthat
no pert of the estate 1s held in trust for her, that
she ;1oemnot rmomlrmany pmounlmrylegeoy, but on
tha oontrary this meotlon or the will constItutsm a
elft of Inoome rron fUtUr6 rant8 and ~vmnumm whloh
may be earn65 by the betats, and that therefore therm
18 no Inhmrltmnom tax properly ahargemble beoaumm of
thle provlmlon in tho will for Us. Harms.
“1 mm Iaollned to take the position that the
will Joe8 orsate fi lit0 amtatm in ravor ot Mm. Earns
In all or such part or the entire pro ertImm am may
be nsommsmryto produam an lnaonm of s35.00 per
fiionth, and that the bmqueat to Mre. Baram 18 taxable
under the Inheritance tax law and that the amount ot
the tax should be aoaputed by smtImimtlng the life ex-
pectancy of L’xs. ,Yaram basm~ on mortality tables and
then co,nputIng the value of the eetatm nmoommary to
produoe mn inool~m or G35.00 per mouth during the
perlod of suoh llis expeotanoy.
"Thlm qusstlon is now pending in the County Court
hers at zjmlton,and I shall slnomrmly apprmmlatm your
glvlng IZS your opinion on the matter at your marllmat
o~nven16nom.R
Art.1016 7117, ;ievlmod 3tetUt68, prOYid6m:
"Wl property rrlthln the jurlsdlotlon of this
State, real 3r personal, oorporats or lnoorporatm,
awl crny interest thmrsin, . . . wnioh mhall pa88 ab-
solutely or in trust by -will or by the lawn oi
3escsnt or listrlbutlon...shall. ,.bm subjoot to a
tax. . .."
,‘hdolb 7123 provides:
822
HonoraBle i.00 Cut is, peg0 3
“Ii the property passlag aa aforesaid shall be
divided into two or C~OIFestater, as an estate for
pars or for life sni a remelnder, the tax shall be
levied on eaoh estate or Interest separately, aooord-
lng to the value of tha same at the death OS the de-
oedent. The valae of eatates for yaar8, estates for
llfe, remainders and annultier, shall be detsrralne;i
by the ‘Aotuarles Comblnrd txperienoe Tables,’ at
rour per oent oompound interest. *
The legeoy to Xra. ilarmr,, uhen examined in the light
of the two statutes above mentioned, 18, in our opinion, olear-
l/ taxable. it is an “interest” In property within the meaning
of >‘.rtlcle 7117, aupra. Aaid interest in in the nature of an
annalty. See D,ethea v. Sheppard, 143 3.w. (24) 997, error re-
Pused, wherein life lnoomo bequests are referred to as “ennu-
itlea”. The fact that ,irtlole 7123 gives the method for OOEI-
putlng the value of “annuitie8” uhows a olear legleletlve in-
tent that interests of this type in a ieoedentPs estate 8re
eubjeot to the lnheritanoe tax. The authorltles generally are
In aooord with our holdln wv Suooeaslon 0r cotton, 135 So.
368 (La.); !iowe v. Xowe, 2’1 N.3.
” 225 (Maas.); 61 C.J., 1675;
28 ;rmerloan Jurisprudence, 118; Roes on Inherltaaoe Taxation,
p. 121 et seq.; 83 A.L.R. 939; 117 A.L.H. 121.
Tours very truly,
ATTORNEY
GE- OF TEXAS
J. Arthur Seadlln
-“. . .
_^ .. .~ . . /, ,..:., ,-2 s Assistant
JIzs/JCP