In re Crawford's Estate

• Decision Date: 16 June 1910
• Citation: 126 N.W. 774,148 Iowa 60
• Parties: In the Matter of the Estate of LOUISA C. CRAWFORD, Deceased
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

126 N.W. 774

148 Iowa 60

In the Matter of the Estate of LOUISA C. CRAWFORD, Deceased

Supreme Court of Iowa, Des Moines

June 16, 1910

Appeal from Des Moines District Court.--HON.W. S. WITHROW, Judge.

Affirmed.

H. W Byers. Attorney-General, and George Cosson, Assistant Attorney-General, for appellant.

Blake & Wilson, for appellee.

OPINION

THE opinion states the case.--Affirmed.

WEAVER J.

Louisa C. Crawford died testate May 13, 1908. Of the provisions of her will the only one requiring consideration upon this appeal is the following: Item 14: "At the death of my husband. George W. Crawford, and when our homestead situated at No. 605 South Garfield avenue, is sold it is my wish and I hereby direct that from the proceeds of same, the sum of $ 2,000.00 shall be given to the Burlington, Iowa branch of the Salvation Army, for the following specific purposes: $ 1,000.00 of said sum to be expended in the purchase of a permanent home or hall for said army, and the remaining $ 1,000.00 to be paid said army and maintained as a fund to care for the sick or disabled members thereof." The will having been admitted to probate, the executor thereof filed a petition alleging that the paragraph above quoted was ambiguous and uncertain and asking a judicial construction of its terms with reference to the foregoing paragraph. Upon consideration of the matter thus presented, the court entered an order as follows: "It is ordered that the executor pay over to the Salvation Army, as provided in paragraph fourteen of the will of decedent, the sum of $ 2,000 from the proceeds of the sale of the homestead; George W. Crawford, the husband, appearing by J. T. Illick, attorney, and consenting thereto, said sum to belong to the Burlington, Iowa branch of said Salvation Army, $ 1,000 thereof to be expended in the purchase of a permanent home or hall for said army, and the remaining $ 1,000 to be paid said army to maintain a fund to care for sick and disabled members thereof belonging to said Burlington branch of said Salvation Army."

Thereafter, difference of opinion having arisen upon the liability of said estate or a portion thereof to the assessment of a collateral inheritance tax, the executor filed in said probate proceedings another petition, setting up said paragraph of the will and the construction placed thereon by the court, and after alleging that the Treasurer of the State claimed said legacy to be subject to the collateral inheritance tax, and that such liability was denied by the beneficiaries of the gift, asked the court to determine whether said sum or any part of it was subject to be so assessed. To this proceeding the Salvation Army appeared and answered alleging that it is a charitable and religious organization which, though incorporated in New York, is engaged in charitable and religious work in Burlington, Iowa for which purpose it has a branch located in said city and is entitled to accept and administer the trust created by the will in aid of charitable and religious work in Iowa and to so receive and administer said fund exempt from collateral inheritance taxation. On the part of the state it was contended that, the Salvation Army not being incorporated in the state of Iowa the fund so bequeathed in aid of its work is properly taxable under the terms of the statute. The trial court held and adjudged the fund to be exempt from taxation, and the state appeals.

The statute in question (Code Supp., section 1467) exempts from the inheritance tax all gifts and bequests "to or for charitable, educational or religious societies or institutions including hospitals, public libraries and public art galleries open to the free use of the public not less than three days of each week, within this state," etc. Stated briefly, the claim of the State Treasurer is that the exemption...