Graves v. Schmidlapp, 315 U.S. 657 (1942)

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Graves v. Schmidlapp

No. 604

Argued March 12, 1942
Decided March 30, 1942
315 U.S. 657

CERTIORARI TO THE SURROGATE’S COURT OF THE COUNTY

OF NEW YORK, STATE OF NEW YORK

Syllabus

1. The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not preclude the New York from taxing the effective exercise, by the will of a domiciled resident, of a general power of appointment of which he was the donee under the will of a resident of Massachusetts, the property appointed being intangibles held by trustees under the donor’s will. Wachovia Bank Trudt Co v. Daughton, 272 U.S. 567, overruled. Pp. 660, 665.

2. Control by the the donee’s domicile over his person and estate and his duty to contribute to the support of government there afford adequate constitutional basis for the imposition of a tax. P. 660.

The donee of the power the exercise of which was taxed was also one of the trustees named by the Massachusetts will, and the paper evidences of the intangibles, which consisted wholly of receivables and corporate stock and bond, were kept by him at the time of his death and for some years before, in New York, the State of his residence. He and other trustees accounted to a Massachusetts probate court for the administration of the fund.

286 N.Y. 596, 35 N.E.2d 937, reversed.

Certiorari, 314 U.S. 601, to review a judgment of the Court of Appeals of New York affirming without opinion an order of the Surrogate’s Court of the County of New York reducing an estate tax assessment. 172 Misc. 426, 15 N.Y.S.2d 208.