Case Name: In the Matter of the Estate of Charlotte G. S. Keech
Court: New York Surrogate's Court
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1889-06-20
Citations: 26 N.Y. St. Rep. 433
Docket Number: 
Parties: In the Matter of the Estate of Charlotte G. S. Keech.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York State Reporter
Volume: 26
Pages: 433–434

Head Matter:
In the Matter of the Estate of Charlotte G. S. Keech.
(Surrogate’s Court, New York County,
Filed June 20, 1889.)
Collateral inheritance tax — What not an alms-house within the EXEMPTION.
A society which by its by-laws requires an admission fee from each applicant, and also that he shall make a will giving to such society all his property, is not an alms-house under the definition of a “pure charity,” and a legacy left to such society is subject to the collateral inheritance tax.
R. E. Selmes, for comptroller; D. H. Olmstead, for executors; Dixon, Williams & Ashley, for Baptist Home Society.

Opinion:
Ransom, S.
The appraiser has reported as subject to taxation a legacy to the " Baptist Home Society," to which report objection is made on the ground that the society is an alms-house, and as such exempt from taxation.
Counsel for the society relies upon the case of the Association for Colored Orphans v. Mayor, etc., 104 N. Y., 581; 6 N. Y. State Rep., 477, as authority directly in point. In that case the court held an alms-house to be " a house appropriated to the poor," and it might be a private corporation. It thus defines the meaning of an alms-house as relating to the case before the court. " It is appropriated wholly for the poor who are colored orphans, and where they are to have a place of refuge, and to be boarded, clothed and suitably educated, etc., gratuitously." A little further on, " The plaintiff is performing a work of pure charity, and is taking upon its own shoulders a portion of the burden that would otherwise fall upon the public."
Article 13 of the constitution of the society prescribes certain rules for admission, chief among which is the payment of an entrance fee of $100. This fee may be remitted under peculiar circumstances by the trustees, and no fee is charged where an applicant is nominated by a patron who becomes such by the payment of $1,000, which payment gives the patron the right to have one person at a time continuously maintained by the society during the lifetime of the patron.
Affidavits have been submitted showing that the fee has been remitted in some cases by the trustees, but very rarely.
Section 6 of article 5 of the by-laws, after providing that the committee on applications shall inquire into the character, etc., of the applicants and inform them of the requirements of the same, says: " This committee shall visit accepted applicants and obtain their signature to a contract accepting the terms of admission, and to a will transferring to the home, for the consideration of one dollar, all the property of which they are or may be possessed."
The difference between the two cases is striking. In the Colored Orphans v. The Mayor (supra), it was a pure charity, where the orphans were boarded, clothed and educated gratuitously; no charge was made for admission, and they were no no expense whatever. Well might the court hold that that institution was an alms-house, taking some of the burden off the public.
In the case at bar an admission fee is charged the applicant, or has been paid in bulk by a patron, or in a few isolated cases the applicant is admitted free. Bach applicant, however, who is accepted must make a will giving to the home all the property he has or may have.
The "Baptist Home Society," while no doubt a grand charity, is limited in its scope, and cannot fairly claim to be an alms-house under the definition of a "pure charity," where everything is provided gratuitously. The society not being an alms-house, does not come within the exemption as laid down in Catlin et al. v. Trustees of Trinity College et al., 22 N. Y. State Rep., 189, and is, therefore, subject to the tax.
An order should be handed up confirming the report of the appraiser, and assessing and fixing the tax.