In re Sacks' Estate

• Decision Date: 18 October 1927
• Citation: 139 A. 53
• Parties: In re SACKS' ESTATE.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

139 A. 53

In re SACKS' ESTATE.

Prerogative Court of New Jersey.

Oct. 18, 1927.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

In the matter of the estate of Louis Sacks, deceased. From a ruling of the comptroller, assessing as part of the estate for inheritance tax two gifts to decedent's son, an appeal is taken. Assessment set aside.

Bilder & Bilder, of Newark (Samuel Kaufman, of Newark), for appellant.

Edward L. Katzenbach, Atty. Gen., and Theodore Rurode, of Jersey City, for the State.

BACKES, Vice Ordinary. The decedent died September 11, 1925, leaving an estate of the appraised value of $398,669.71. The comptroller assessed, as part of the estate, two gifts to the decedent's son, made within two years of the decedent's death, appraised at $111,179.80, holding that they were made in contemplation of death. The appeal is from this ruling, and the contention is that the proofs overcome the presumption created by the statute that:

"Gifts within two years of death shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to have been made in contemplation of death."

The decedent had been a manufacturer in Newark. In 1918 he incorporated his business as Louis Sacks, Inc., and gave his son 663 shares of the capital stock, keeping 656. The son ran the business after that; the father keeping in close touch. In April, 1924, he gave his son securities, consisting of bonds and stock, valued at $61,127. About the same time he sold to him his stock holdings in the Louis Sacks, Inc., for $50,052.80, and 739 shares of the capital stock of the Sacks Realty & Investment Company for $33,964.44, taking notes for the respective amounts. In April, 1925, he gave up and canceled the note for $50,052.80, retaining the other. The gifts of the securities and the note were assessed.

The deceased was 73 years of age when he passed away. He died of pneumonia, 11 days after contracting a cold, while on vacation at Hollywood, this state. In 1916 he had diabetes, but the sugar condition cleared up rapidly, under dietary treatment, and he was cured within the year, so his physician says, and who also testified that his system was free from sugar from that time until he last saw him in the year of his death. He also says that in 1919 the deceased developed heart murmur at the apex, though the last physical examination in February, 1925, indicated that "his condition was excellent, especially for a man of his years"; that "he was perfectly capable at that time of doing anything in a business way" and "was mentally clear and sagacious." While the deceased had retired from his life's occupation as a manufacturer, he continued active as president of two building loan associations, attended to his personal investments, and joint investment accounts with his son, until his death. He was in good health, the son says, meaning, probably, that he was uncomplaining and in good spirits, until his last illness, and in this he is supported by the family physician. The dormant diabetes, and the heart murmur, seem not to have had any disturbing influence, although the death certificate records that a contributing cause of death was diabetes mellitus.

The fact that the deceased was past 70 when he made the gifts is not of itself persuasive that they were made in...