Estate of Annie E. Meier

This petition for the abatement of an inheritance tax, filed in the Probate Court in Lincoln County, and reported to this court, on agreed facts, for the determination of questions of law, as authorized by R. S., 1944, Chap. 142, Sec. 30, involves a tax assessed against the Estate of Annie E. Meier, late of Boothbay Harbor, more than 11 years after her death. She died March 10, 1937. The Trustee of a revocable Trust established by her on June 22, 1933 advised the Inheritance Tax Commissioner, the official then charged with the assessment of inheritance taxes, of the death on April 2, 1937. The income of the trust was payable to Mrs. Meier, or was to be applied for her use by the trustee, as long as she lived. An inventory of the property held in it at the time of her death was filed with commissioner on September 26, 1938. No tax was assessed against the estate until July 22, 1948. That under review was assessed on November 16, 1948, when the earlier one was vacated and the time of payment extended to December 1, 1948, without interest. At the death of Mrs. Meier, who died holding the legal title to no property whatsoever, real estate in Maine valued at $3,200 and intangibles amounting to $107,590.58, including $21,992.50 in fractional interests in mortgages secured by real estate not located in Maine (less all proper debts and expenses, and taxes, if any), all held in the trust aforesaid, passed to her two daughters under its provisions. The State Tax Assessor, who succeeded the Inheritance Tax Commissioner as the taxing authority (see P. L., 1947, Chap. 354), fixed the allowable deduction for debts and expenses of administration at $5,163.77. The tax is based on the succession to all the property held in the trust, less that allowance.