Opinion ID: 2338420
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Apportionment of federal estate taxes.

Text: Instructions were asked whether the executor is under the provisions of the will entitled to apportionment of federal estate taxes assessable in respect of the trust property. Item XII of the will provides as follows: I authorize and direct that all inheritance, estate and other taxes which may be assessed against my estate or any part thereof or which may be charged to any of the beneficiaries under this Will shall be paid out of my Estate by the Executor of this Will, it being my intent that all bequests and devises herein made shall be free of all such taxes. The Chancellor was not required to decide this question, since he held that the trust property passed under the will, and upon this holding the question of apportionment could not arise. We see no reason, however, to remand the case for a further hearing upon the matter. No question of fact is involved, and we proceed to decide it. We think the question is free from any real doubt. The phrase my estate in the quoted item clearly has the same meaning as we have found it to have in the residuary clause of the will  the testamentary estate. Under our Apportionment Act, 12 Del.C. §§ 2901-2906, the statutory scheme of prorating estate taxes governs unless the testator's intention to depart from that scheme clearly appears. Wilmington Trust Co. v. Copeland, Del.Sup., 94 A.2d 703. Not only does such an intention fail to appear, but it would be absurd to suppose that under the facts of this case the testatrix intended to saddle her residuary estate with a tax liability attributable to the trust property  a liability that might wipe it out altogether. In this Court the Carlisle heirs concede that the tax should be apportioned. We hold that the executor is entitled to apportionment. For the reasons above stated paragraph 4 of the findings prefixed to the judgment of the court below of April 17, 1953, and paragraphs 2 and 3 of the decretal provisions thereof, are reversed; and the cause will be remanded to the Court of Chancery in and for New Castle County for the entry of a judgment in conformity with this opinion and for such further proceedings as may be appropriate.