Court Opinion

ID: 9857852
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:03:34.50184+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:46:46.516817
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing
Appellees, on motion for rehearing, contend this court’s opinion contravenes Articles 7136 and 7137, R.C.S., which 2 statutes were not cited to the court on original submission, and are cited for the first time on rehearing.
Article 7136 provides in substance that no executor, administrator, trustee, etc. shall transfer stocks, bonds, etc. to the legatee or heir thereof until the Comptroller issues notice that State inheritance taxes have been paid.
Article 7137 provides in substance that should any executor, trustee, etc. deliver to any legdtee or heir any stock, or should a corporation transfer any stock to a legatee or heir,—before State inheritance taxes are paid,—then the executor, trustee or corporation so doing will itself be liable for any tax due by the estate.
These statutes have no application to the case at bar.
The Bank’s action in endorsing the stock to the Trustee Cooper, or a transfer of same on the books of The Cooper Company could not violate the cited statutes. They provide that .stocks shall not be transferred to an heir or legatee. The statutes’' purpose is to protect the State in its collection of inheritance taxes. Cooper is a Trustee under the will, with only the power to vote the stock and pay the dividends to-Mrs. Brassell and Mrs. Denton, who are the legatees. Endorsement or transfer of the stock to the Trustee Cooper by the Executor or the corporation is not a transfer to a legatee or heir.
The statutes prohibit a Trustee as well as an Executor from transferring stock to a legatee or heir prior to the time the Comptroller certifies that taxes have been paid. The State has the same protection after the transfer to the Trustee as it had prior thereto.
Motion for rehearing is overruled.