The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-05

decision in Havens appeal the allow ance is an expense of administrat tion, and unless it is in conflict with Cowles vs. CowleS 1t should be deducted from the taxable estate. Cowles vs. Cowles does not take away any rights which are given to the heir in Haven ap- peal, for there is no inconsistency be- tween the cases or conflict in their decisions, and Ravens appeal has nev- Ter been reversed.
 The Same Error
 In another legal opinion the tax commissioner decides that according ito the doctrine of Cowles vs. Cowles an allowance is held to be an in- choate right acquired by a woman's marriage and enforceable at his (hus- band'S) death,'' and the attorney-gen- eral in his legal opinion that "an al- lowance is in no proper sense an ad- ministration charge or expense, but rather the fulfillment of a legal obli- gation growing out of marriage falls into the same error.
 AS a legal definition of an allow ance it is far from being accurate for it is more than 'an inchoate right" of a widow or "the fulfilment of legal obligation growing out of mar riage,' it is right to which every de- pendent member of the family is enti-
 
 is to one who is neither wife, child, heir-at-law, or even a relative, of the deceased, and in as much part of the expense of administration, as the funeral expenses, expenses of the last sickness, administration charges and expenses and probate fees, all of which are deducted in and it is the part of the estate which the statutes direct the court to take out with the other expenses as. necessary expense for the SUD- port of the family.
 Only One Estate
 The tax commissioner speaks of 'the taxable estate" as an estate separate from the distributive estate, as if there were two estates, one for distribution and the other for taxations. There is but one estate, and as the allowance is always deducted by the court from the distributive estate it must ,neces- estate" for it cannot be deducted from one estate without being deducted from the other or deducted for one purpose and included for another. The succession tax, according to the statutes, is computed on the "es- tate which passes to the heir,'' which | is the distributive estate. and this cannot be ascertained until after the administrators account has been ac- cepted and allowed, and it has been made to appear that all the debts and expenses. of administration, of which and fully satisfied. Then and not till then can the taxable estate be as- certained and the succession tax com puted.
 An Illustration.
 Suppose that there was an estate l of $11,0OO, of which $10,00O was by statute exempt and the court should grant an allowance of $1,5o0; Gould l it be said that there remained a
 taxable estate" on which success
 sion tax could be computed when | only $9,500 passed to the heir" all | of which was exempt? l If the allowance is a part of "tne | taxable estate" then the state taxes l the allowance while the other expen- ses of administration are exempt and the heir would then be compelled 10 | pay a succession tax not only on the | estate which he receives but also on | the property which the state takes l from him without his consent. It is | self evident that the heir cannot be
 compelled to payoafesuccession tax on
 an estate to which ehe does not sue ceed..
 Opinion Not Binding. l Probate judges will not accept the advice of the attorney-general and | follow it. unless they think it is good | law, for his legal opinion is no more | binding on the probate judges than l on the judges of the Superior court, and it iS not binding on either. The tax commissioner is enthusias- | tic and very active and he has given excellent service and made a good | record in his own department, but he ought not to have interfered with l the probate courts and attempt to change lawful practice of the. court for one that is unlawful for no oth- CT purpose than to increase the year | ly receipts from the succession tax" and to correct what he thinks are l the mistakes of the probate judges when they are not mistakes at all. A ] tax commissioner ought to find some other and better way to increase the revenues of the state than by making l the heir pay succession tax for which he is not liable on property which he does not receive and which then statutes do not require him to pay
 HARRISON B. FREEMAN. Hartford, Sept. IT, 1911. New York-Both demanding that their boy, Joe, should be given into their custody, Justice Pendleton let the bow choose for himself He want