Pitman v. State

• Decision Date: 11 July 1916
• Docket Number: 5577.
• Citation: 158 P. 1137,59 Okla. 270
• Parties: PITMAN v. STATE.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

158 P. 1137

59 Okla. 270

PITMAN v. STATE.

No. 5577.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

July 11, 1916

Syllabus by the Court.

In order to give validity to the payment of a tax, the payment must be made to the officer authorized by law to receive the same, or his duly authorized representative.

Section 7495, Rev. Laws 1910, requires the payment of an inheritance tax to be made to the county treasurer of the county in which the administration is pending, and a payment into the county court of said tax under an order of said court is not a payment and discharge of said tax.

An estate being administered upon was liable for the payment of an inheritance tax, and in obedience to the order of said county court, the administrator of said estate paid into court an amount in excess of said inheritance tax. The term of office of said county judge receiving said money expired and his successor was elected and qualified, to whom said county judge receiving said money failed to turn over said money, and an action to recover the same was brought upon the official bond of said county judge receiving said money to recover same. Held, that said money did not come into the hands of said county judge so as to render his bond liable therefor.

Commissioners' Opinion, Division No. 1. Error from District Court, Creek County; Jesse M. Hatchett, Judge.

Action by the State against Robert Pitman, as administrator of the estate of Rowie E. Pitman, deceased. Judgment for plaintiff and defendant brings error. Affirmed.

Davidson & Williams, of Tulsa, for plaintiff in error.

S. P Freeling, Atty. Gen., and Smith Matson, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

HOOKER C.

This cause was heretofore decided by this court in an opinion by Mr. Commissioner Collier, as follows:

"This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court of Creek county, Okl., rendered on the 2d day of May, 1913 in a cause therein pending in the matter of the estate of Rowie E. Pitman, deceased, ordering and directing Robert Pitman, Sr., as administrator of the estate of Rowie E Pitman, to pay to the county treasurer of Creek county the sum of $1,170.80, with interest thereon from February 28, 1911, until paid. The cause came up to the district court of Creek county, Okl., on appeal from a judgment of the county court of Creek county, rendered on the 23d day of August, 1912. The facts are undisputed, and are as follows: Rowie E. Pitman died on the 10th day of February, 1909, leaving an estate of real and personal property appraised at $122,779.31, and Robert Pitman, Sr., the father and sole heir of said deceased, was, by the said county court, regularly and duly appointed and qualified as administrator of her estate. Jurisdiction to administer said estate rested in the county court of Creek county, Okl., by virtue of the residence of decedent in said county at the time of her death. It was agreed by the parties that the amount of the inheritance tax properly due by said estate was the sum of $1,170.80, and that no part of these taxes have been paid directly to the treasurer of Creek county, or to any of the deputies of such treasurer, and that under an order made by the county judge of Creek county on the 23d day of February, 1910, said county court made an order, ordering the administrator to pay into court the sum of $6,750, to be held by said court pending the time allowed by law for a review of the judgment in the matter of fixing the amount of the inheritance tax aforesaid, and which said amount was paid by the said administrator into said court, which said amount said Davis refused and failed to pay over to his successor in office. From the said judgment of $1,170.80, the said Robert Pitman, after having timely filed a motion for new trial, which was overruled, brings error.

The only material question involved in this litigation is whether or not the said payment of said money into the county court as ordered by said Davis, county judge, was a payment

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