Case Name: Estate of James
Court: New York Surrogate's Court
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1893-12
Citations: 6 Misc. 206
Docket Number: 
Parties: Estate of James.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Miscellaneous Reports
Volume: 6
Pages: 206–207

Head Matter:
Estate of James.
(Surrogate’s Court—New York County,
December, 1893.)
The assets of a nonresident decedent consisted of personal property situated in this and in foreign countries; legacies were given which, while not demonstrative, were actually paid out of the foreign assets. Held, in the proportion that the assets in this jurisdiction bore to the foreign assets they are to be resorted to for the payment of debts and legacies, and to that extent the legacies are subject to taxation under the Transfer Tax Act.
Appeal to the surrogate from a former order assessing the interests passing under the will of decedent and fixing the tax thereupon.
Parsons, Shepard & Ogden, for appellants.
Edward S. Kaufman, for comptroller of the city of Hew York.

Opinion:
Ransom, S.
Heither the alienage nor the nonresidence of a legatee or annuitant entitles him to an exemption; neither does the alienage or nonresidence of the testator since the act of 1887 went into effect. Estate of Romaine, 127 N. Y. 86 ; Matter of Enston, 113 id. 181. I can find nothing in the act which, when both the legatee and the testator are aliens or nonresidents, gives to the alien legatee a benefit not conferred upon citizens and residents of this state. There might be a question if the legacies were demonstrative in their character, but it is not claimed that the English assets were made exclusively liable to the payment of the annuitants and legatees on whose behalf this appeal had been taken; nor is it claimed that the entire estate, wherever situated, would not be liable for their payment. The theory upon which the appraiser has acted seems to me to be the correct one, viz.: In the proportion that the assets in this jurisdiction bear to the foreign assets, it is to be resorted to for the payment of debts and legacies, and to that extent the legacies are taxable. The exemption of certain corporations organized for other than business purposes from the operation of this act does not include foreign corporations. Estate of Prime, 136 N. Y. 347. I have heretofore passed upon the liability to taxation when the assets consist of bonds and stocks of foreign corporations, the certificates for which are kept within this state, adversely to the claim of the appellant. Estate of Bondon, Surr. Dec., 1892, p. 115, and cases cited.
Order affirmed.