Estate of De Roulet

OPINION

(1) The sole question on this appeal by the Controller from an order fixing the inheritance tax in the above estate is whether on the date of decedent's death, November 12, 1964, Vincent de Roulet, a mutually recognized grandchild of decedent, was under the Inheritance Tax Law properly classified as a Class A (close relative) or a Class D (stranger) transferee of decedent, Marie Louise de Roulet. The trial court found that Vincent was a person adopted as a minor by Henry de Roulet, his stepfather and the only child of decedent, and therefore concluded that Vincent was a Class A transferee of decedent under Revenue and Taxation Code section 13307, subdivision (e) of the law.1

Subdivision (e) in 1964 read as follows: "A transferee whose relationship *Page 1074 to the decedent is that of a person adopted in conformity with the laws of this State by any lineal issue or child mentioned in this section; provided, such person was under the age of 21 years at the time of such adoption."

The trial court further found that Henry and Vincent had the mutually acknowledged relationship of parent and child for more than 10 years prior to November 12, 1964, and that the relationship commenced before Vincent's 15th birthday.2 Under subdivision (c) of section 13307, a Class A transferee includes "A transferee to whom the decedent for not less than 10 continuous years prior to the transfer stood in the mutually acknowledged relationship of a parent, if the relationship commenced on or before the transferee's fifteenth birthday."

In short for rate and exemption purposes under the Inheritance Tax Law (see §§ 13404, 13407, 13801, 13804) the trial court treated Vincent, a mutually acknowledged child of Henry, as if he had been a child adopted by Henry and so classified him. Vincent is referred to in decedent's will as her "grandson" and in the document she divided the residue of her estate, after deduction of, among other things, death taxes, equally between Vincent and his half sister, the natural daughter of Henry and Vincent's mother and the natural granddaughter of decedent. Decedent lived but a few blocks from the family home of Vincent and his sister and a relationship of love and affection existed between decedent and Vincent from the time he was four years old in October 1929 until her death in November 1964. When Vincent reached the age of 21 his family name was legally changed to that of decedent — a name he had chosen upon his confirmation in the Roman Catholic Church some seven years earlier.

In 1964, so far as descendants of a decedent were concerned, Class A transferees under section 13307 were limited to: (a) lineal issue of decedent, (b) a child adopted as a minor by decedent, (c) a mutually acknowledged child of decedent if this relationship had lasted for not less than 10 continuous years and had commenced on or before the child's 15th birthday, (d) the lineal issue of adopted or mutually acknowledged children of decedent, (e) a child adopted as a minor by lineal issue, an adopted child or a mutually acknowledged child of decedent, or by lineal issue of such children.