Chambers v. O'Neill

BARDIN, J.,

pro

tem.

This is an appeal from an order determining the amount of inheritance tax due the state of California from Marjorie O’Neill, the respondent herein, and sole heir of the estate.

[685]

There is no controversy about the facts of the case, and, so far as they are pertinent to this appeal, may be briefly stated as follows: Thomas E. Marshall died intestate, leaving as his entire estate, property which had either been the community property of himself and his predeceased spouse, Delia Marshall, or property which had formerly been the separate property of such predeceased spouse and which he had inherited upon her demise. Marshall and his spouse left no issue of their bodies, but Delia Marshall left an only child, named Marjorie O’Neill. This child was never adopted by Thomas E. Marshall, nor did he ever stand in the mutually acknowledged relation of a parent to such child, and she is not a grandchild of Thomas E. Marshall, and is a stranger in blood to him'.

The sole question involved in this appeal is this: Is Marjorie O’Neill entitled to the exemption of ten thousand dollars provided for by subdivision 2 of section 6 of the Inheritance Tax Act, chapter 589 of the Statutes of 1917, [Stats. 1917, p. 880], and to the one per cent rate on the balance of her inheritance as provided by subdivision 1 of section 4 of said act; or, is she entitled to an exemption of five hundred dollars only, as provided in subdivision 5 of section 6 of the same act, and required to pay a tax of five per cent on the balance of her inheritance as provided in subdivision 4 of section 4 thereof? In other words, is the amount of the inheritance tax to be paid by Marjorie O’Neill to be determined upon the theory that she takes from Delia Marshall, or from Thomas E. Marshall, and as a stranger to his blood?

[1]

It is fundamental that under our law the right of heirship in an intestate’s estate is founded upon the statute of succession, and it is to that statute that we mtfst look in order to measure the rights and obligations of Marjorie O’Neill as an heir of the estate of Thomas E. Marshall.

[2]