Case Name: In re MAVERICK'S ESTATE
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1909-12-10
Citations: 119 N.Y.S. 914
Docket Number: 
Parties: In re MAVERICK’S ESTATE.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 119
Pages: 914–915

Head Matter:
In re MAVERICK’S ESTATE.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department.
December 10, 1909.)
Taxation (§ 872*)—'Transfer Tax on Estate—Bequest Exempt—“Funeral Expenses.”
Reasonable cost of keeping a burial plot and monument in repair is properly a part of the “funeral expenses,” exempt from the transfer tax on an estate; and so a bequest of $250, to be invested and the income used for such a purpose, is exempt.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Taxation, Dec. Dig. § 872.*
For other definitions, see Words and Phrases, vol. 4, pp. 3007-3009.]
■ McLaughlin and Ingraham, JJ., dissenting.
•For other oases see same topic & § number in Dec. & Am. Digs. 1907 to date, & Rep’r Indexes
Appeal from Surrogate’s Court, New York County.
In the matter of the transfer tax on the estate of Ellen M. Maverick. Appeal from an order of the Surrogate’s Court, amending an order of such court fixing the tax.
Reversed.
Argued before INGRAHAM, McLAUGHLIN, CLARKE, SCOTT, and HOUGHTON, JJ.
Edmund L. Baylies, for appellant.
Millard H. Ellison, for respondent.

Opinion:
SCOTT, J.
Ellen M. Maverick, by her will, gave to the trustees of Greenwood Cemetery the sum of $250 in trust, to invest the same and to expend the income- and interest derived therefrom in keeping her burial plot "in as good condition and repair as the said income will permit." The question is whether or not the bequest is subject to a transfer tax. It is well established, and is not disputed, that the funeral expenses of a decedent are exempt from tax. As a part of the burial expenses thus exempt, it has been repeatedly held that the sum expended for a burial plot or for the erection of a monument was also exempt. Matter of Edgerton, 35 App. Div. 125, 54 N. Y. Supp. 700, affirmed 158 N. Y. 671, 52 N. E. 1124; Estate of Millward, 6 Misc. Rep. 425, 27 N. Y. Supp. 286; Matter of Liss, 39 Misc. Rep. 123, 78 N. Y. Supp. 969; Code Civ. Proc. § 2749. By a close analogy or reasoning it has until recently been held that the reasonable cost of keeping a burial plot and monument in order was a funeral expense, and exempt from tax. Matter of Vinot (Sur.) 7 N. Y. Supp. 517, cited in Matter of Edgerton, supra. If the cost of a burial plot and monument is properly included in the burial expenses, I can see no reason why the reasonable cost of keeping them in decent repair is not also properly a part of the burial expenses.
The surrogate felt himself constrained to hold otherwise in consequence of the language used in Matter of Gould, 156 N. Y. 423, 51 N. E. 287, and Matter of McAvoy, 112 App. Div. 377, 98 N. Y. Supp. 437, and Matter of Fay, 62 Misc. Rep. 154, 116 N. Y. Supp. 423. The Eay Case, like the present, rested on the Gould and McAvoy Cases. The language of those cases must be read in the light of the facts. In the Gould Case the testator had made a large bequest to his son as a reward for faithful services. In the McAvoy Case the bequest was to pay for masses for others than the testator. Of course, neither of these bequests resembles the present in the slightest degree. In my opinion, the moderate sum set apart to keep decedent's burial plot in order should be considered a part of her burial expenses, and hence exempt from taxation.
The order appealed from should be reversed, and the order fixing the tax upon the report of the appraiser affirmed.
CEARKE and HOUGHTON, JJ., concur.