Uihlein v. State (In re Uihlein's Will)

• Decision Date: 12 May 1925
• Citation: 203 N.W. 742,187 Wis. 101
• Parties: IN RE UIHLEIN'S WILL. UIHLEIN ET AL. v. STATE ET AL.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

187 Wis. 101

203 N.W. 742

IN RE UIHLEIN'S WILL.

UIHLEIN ET AL.

v.STATE ET AL.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

May 12, 1925.

Appeal from Milwaukee County Court; John C. Karel, Judge.

Proceeding between Herman A. Uihlein and others and the State of Wisconsin and others to determine inheritance tax on the estate of Henry Uihlein, deceased. From the judgment assessing tax, Herman A. Uihlein and others appeal. Affirmed.

Proceedings to determine the amount of inheritance tax payable on the estate of Henry Uihlein, deceased, including gifts made to his children within six years prior to his death. Henry Uihlein died April 22, 1922, leaving an estate to be administered under his will. Within six years prior to his death he made two gifts to or for the benefit of his six children. The first gift was made in February, 1917. The second gift was made July 2, 1921. Between the time of the making of such gifts and the time of his death the inheritance tax rate in Wisconsin increased. See Laws 1917, c. 320; Laws of 1921, c. 568. The gifts in question were not made in actual contemplation of death, but under the statute and prior decisions of this court the county court held that they were conclusively presumed to be made in contemplation of death, and the court assessed the inheritance rates in force at the time of the death of the deceased. From a judgment entered accordingly, the children of the testator and the executors of the will appealed.Miller, Mack & Fairchild and Patrick W. Dean, guardian ad litem, all of Milwaukee, for appellants.

H. L. Ekern, Atty. Gen., Franklin E. Bump, Asst. Atty. Gen., and John Harrington, of Madison, for respondents.

VINJE, C. J. (after stating the facts as above).

[1] The counsel for appellants claim that our statute, conclusively presuming that gifts made within six years of the testator's death are made in contemplation of death, is unconstitutional; but they frankly state they do not desire to offer any argument on the questions that were settled in the cases of In re Estate of Ebeling, 169 Wis. 432, 172 N. W. 734, 4 A. L. R. 1519, and In re Estate of Schlesinger, 184 Wis. 1, 199 N. W. 951, in addition to the arguments presented in those cases, but desire to urge that the period fixed, namely six years, is an unreasonably long period, and for that reason the statute is unconstitutional, as well as for the reasons urged in the former cases. As stated in the Schlesinger Case, the statute was enacted for the purpose of enabling the taxing officials of the state to make an efficient and practical administration of the inheritance tax law. If the Legislature had the right to make a conclusive presumption, it was undoubtedly within the legislative field to determine the period within which such conclusion should be considered absolute. Unless the period of six years is so excessive and unreasonable that it can be said that it was beyond the legislative field, courts cannot interfere. In our judgment the Legislature did not pass beyond its field in fixing upon the period of six years. Common experience and observation show that many men of advancing years begin to make a testamentary disposition of their estate in the way of gifts, and that such action may continue over quite a number of years. At any rate, it was for the Legislature to determine the length of the period, and we cannot say judicially that it is so long as to be unreasonable.

[2] It is further claimed that the Legislature had no right to assess upon these gifts a rate of taxation that was not in existence at the time they were made; that the assessing of such a rate was...