Stirling v. Connelly

• Citation: 141 Conn. 483,107 A.2d 274
• Parties: STIRLING v. CONNELLY, Tax Com'r. In re WOODRUFF'S ESTATE. Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut
• Decision Date: 20 July 1954
• Court: Supreme Court of Connecticut

Page 274

107 A.2d 274 141 Conn. 483 STIRLING
v.
CONNELLY, Tax Com'r.
In re WOODRUFF'S ESTATE. Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut. July 20, 1954.

[141 Conn. 484]

Page 275

Joseph B. Morse, New Haven, for plaintiff.

Herman Levine, Inheritance Tax Atty., New Haven, with whom, on the brief, were William L. Beers, Atty. Gen., and Frederic W. Dauch, First Asst. Tax Com'r, Waterbury, for defendant.

Before [141 Conn. 483] INGLIS, C. J., and BALDWIN, O'SULLIVAN, WYNNE and DALY, JJ.

[141 Conn. 484] BALDWIN, Associate Justice.

The plaintiff, executor under the will of Kaomeo E. Woodruff, appealed to the Superior Court from the assessment by the defendant tax [141 Conn. 485] commissioner, acting under chapter 103 of the General Statutes, of a penalty tax upon a portion of the estate of the plaintiff's decedent. The case has been reserved for advice upon the question whether the estate is obligated to pay the tax.

The stipulated facts may be abbreviated as follows: Kaomeo E. Woodruff died on September 19, 1952, in New Haven, where she had resided continuously for more than five years before her death. The plaintiff, her executor, filed an inventory of her estate and listed therein this item: 'Due from the Grace-New Haven Community Hospital as per agreement dated December 17, 1937 by and between George S. Stirling as trustee of the trust created by Article IX of the will of Rollin S. Woodruff, deceased, Kaomeo E. Woodruff and the Grace Hospital Society.' It appears from the agreement referred to that Rollin S. Woodruff died in New Haven in 1925. He left a will in which he established a trust of the residue of his estate, the income from which was to be paid to his widow, Kaomeo E. Woodruff, during her life. The remainder, after the payment of certain pecuniary legacies, was bequeathed to the Grace Hospital Society, now the Grace-New Haven Community Hospital.

Among the assets of the trust was a note of the Grace Hospital Society, hereinafter referred to as the hospital society, in the amount of $80,000 and carrying interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. The note was secured by a mortgage. The hospital society was in financial difficulties and for three years prior to December, 1937, had failed to pay the interest on the note. It proposed to the trustee under the will of Rollin S. Woodruff that some settlement be made. Accordingly, the trustee, the hospital society and Mrs. Woodruff, with the approval of the Probate [141 Conn. 486] Court, entered into an agreement on December 17, 1937, canceling the note and mortgage and providing that the hospital society would pay Mrs. Woodruff $200 each month as long as she lived. The agreement stipulated further that the hospital society would put $5000 into a trust to be used in making the first twenty-five monthly payments, and that if Mrs....