De Lano's Estate, In re
| Decision Date | 13 September 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 40519,40519 |
| Parties | Matter of the ESTATE of Katherine S. DE LANO, Deceased. Helen DeLano SUTHERLAND, Executrix of the Estate of Katherine S. DeLano, Deceased, Appellee, v. STATE of Kansas ex rel., John ANDERSON, J., Attorney General, and State Commission of Revenue and Taxation of the State of Kansas, Appellants. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. Where a Kansas domiciliary decedent leaves estate to be administered consisting of tangible personal property and real estate located in the state of Kansas and intangible personal property located in the state of Missouri at the time of her death, it is held that the state of Missouri has full power to administer upon the intangibles, pay creditors out of it and dispose of it, within constitutional limitations, or, at its option, to permit Kansas to take possession and administer it.
2. Where a Kansas domiciliary decedent dies leaving intangible personal property consisting of bonds, notes, bank accounts and stock certificates located in various banks in the state of Missouri, the situs of such intangible personal property, sufficient to found an administration, is in the state of Missouri.
3. Under the facts related in Syllabus No. 2, the state of Kansas has no jurisdiction in rem over the intangible personal property which is located in the state of Missouri, and therefore has no power to administer upon such intangible personal property.
4. Administration proceedings conducted in the state of Missouri upon intangible personal property located in that state, under the related in Syllabus No. 1, are entitled to full faith and credit in the state of Kansas under Art. 4, Sec. 1, of the United States Constitution, and the Act of Congress relating thereto.
5. The power of Kansas to impose an inheritance tax on the devolution of intangible personal property of a Kansas domiciliary decedent, wherever such property may be located, does not confer upon the state of Kansas jurisdiction to administer upon intangibles located in another state unless such other state cedes its jurisdiction over the property.
6. G.S.1955 Supp., 59-303, which purports to confer extra-territorial jurisdiction upon the courts of the state of Kansas, the provisions of which are more fully set forth in the opinion, is declared to be unconstitutional and void for the following reasons:
a. It is beyond the power of the legislature to enact.
b. It violates the full faith and credit clause of the Federal Constitution.
c. It violates the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment, because it directs the commencement of judicial proceedings in the absence of jurisdiction.
d. It violates the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment by attempting to deprive appellee of property without due process of law.
e. It denies the appellee the equal protection of the laws.
John Anderson Jr., Atty. Gen., and Fred N. Six, Asst. Atty. Gen., argued the cause; Paul Hurd, Michael A. Barbara and Dean Burkhead, Topeka, were with them on the briefs, for appellants.
Russell W. Baker, Kansas City, Mo., argued the cause; James E. Smith, Topeka, Eugene T. Hackler, Olathe, and Robert B. Olsen, Kansas City, Mo., were with him on the briefs, for appellee.
Paul Hurd and Marlin Casey, Topeka, Henry Gott, Wichita, Charles Vance, Liberal, and Ervin G. Johnston, Kansas City, for Bar Ass'n of the State of the Kansas, as amici curiae.
This appeal involves an attempt of the probate judge pro tem of Johnson County, Kansas, by an order dated February 22, 1956, and by certain earlier actions, to make a Kansas resident executrix, the appellee, responsible for assets outside Kansas' boundaries which she did not have and had no way of obtaining.
Before this court are twenty-five conclusions of law, as to which appellants seek review by this court, made by the district court of Johnson County, Kansas, supporting its judgment which took the opposite position from that of the probate judge pro tem, and struck down the attempt to claim extra-territorial jurisdiction.
Important questions are presented by this appeal respecting the relative rights of the states of the union to administer upon, pay claims from, and eventually distribute the property of a decedent. The extra-territorial jurisdiction claimed by the probate judge pro tem and by the appellants in this appeal brings immediately to the forefront the question of whether such attempts offend the equal protection and due process clause of the fourteenth amendment and the full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution. Appellants ask this court to say that such clauses of the Federal Constitution are not offended by their claim of jurisdiction, and further ask this court to reverse the district court's conclusion that G.S.1955 Supp. 59-303 is unconstitutional and void on six different grounds.
There is no dispute as to the facts in this case. Briefly summarized, the facts disclose that Katherine S. DeLano had resided in Jackson County, Missouri, for more than forty years when, about four years prior to her death, she moved her residence to 6442 Sagamore Road, one block west of the state line in Johnson County, Kansas. There she resided at the time of her death on June 4, 1954. The removal of her residence from Missouri to Kansas occasioned no change in her business activities or her personal financial affairs, which continued to be centered and conducted in Jackson County, Missouri. At the time of her death those of her assets located in Kansas were an automobile, personal effects and the residence real estate. Those of her assets which were located in Missouri at that time included intangible personal property which totaled over $312,000, consisting of bonds and notes in the amount of $93,826.01, bank accounts of $54,082.80, stock certificates of two corporations domiciled in Missouri of $9,900, and stock certificates plus accrued dividends of corporations domiciled in states other than Missouri or Kansas of $155,018.45.
The bank accounts were in various banks in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. The bonds and the stocks, evidenced by certificates which represented shares in thirty-seven corporations, were in a safety deposit box in the Baltimore Bank in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri.
On the 18th day of June, 1954, administration proceedings were commenced in the probate court of Johnson County, Kansas, by admitting decedent's will to probate. The Kansas properties were taken into possession, inventoried and administered upon by the Kansas executrix and appellee, Helen DeLano Sutherland, who was the decedent's daughter and sole child.
On the 25th day of June, 1954, administration proceedings were commenced in the Jackson County, Missouri, probate court where the will of the decedent, being the same will admitted on June 18, 1954, in the probate court of Johnson County, Kansas, was admitted to probate. The bank accounts, bonds and stocks above mentioned were taken into possession, inventoried and administered upon by Donna S. Pearson, the executrix appointed by the Missouri probate court.
On October 18, 1955, attorneys for the Kansas executrix submitted required inheritance tax forms to the probate court in Johnson County which did not conform to the previously filed inventory of June 26, 1954, in that they listed the personalty purportedly located in Jackson County, Missouri. Shortly thereafter, on October 20, 1955, a probate judge pro tem was appointed and the State Director of Revenue was advised of the variance between the original inventory and the inheritance tax forms. The probate judge pro tem returned the inheritance tax forms to the attorneys for the Kansas executrix and on November 4, 1955, the Director of Revenue mailed notice to the Kansas executrix requiring a re-inventory and re-appraisal of the assets.
At a hearing on November 25, 1955, counsel for the Kansas executrix submitted to the probate judge pro tem of Johnson County, Kansas for filing the following documentary evidence:
(a) An amended probate inventory showing all of the assets of the decedent wherever located and administered, and showing which of them were being administered in courts other than the courts of the state of Kansas.
(b) A duly authenticated copy of the inventory of the estate of the decedent filed and admitted of record in the probate court of Jackson County, Missouri, authenticated under the Acts of Congress relating to the full faith and credit to be given judicial proceedings in another state.
(c) An Inherintance Tax Division Form IH-12 containing a complete description and appraisement of all property of the decedent, tangible and intangible, wherever located, subject to inheritance taxes of the state of Kansas, being identical to and containing the same listings and appraisements as shown in Inheritance Tax Division Form IH-12, filed on behalf of the executrix on October 18, 1955.
(d) A duly authenticated copy of all the orders of the probate court of Jackson County, Missouri, allowing claims against the estate of the decedent administered in Missouri, and of the receipts and checks filed therein showing payment of such claims, which authenticated copy or copies were authenticated under the Acts of Congress relating to the full faith and credit to be given judicial proceedings in another state.
(e) The original receipt of the United States District Director of Revenue showing the payment of federal estate taxes in this estate in the amount of $78,312.85.
(f) A Kansas Inheritance Tax Form IH-12Q.
(g) A Kansas Inheritance Tax Form IH-12G.
The probate judge pro tem took no action and the foregoing documents were again submitted for filing in the probate court of Johnson County upon the verified application of the Kansas executrix dated December 29, 1955.
The amended inventory correctly stated that the personalty located in Kansas totaled...
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