Rosso v. Flournoy

Opinion

FLEMING, J. Appeals from orders denying modification of inheritance tax and dismissing a “petition in equity” for modification of inheritance tax.

Cora Desmond died in April 1964 leaving an estate valued at $500,000.1 A will which left the bulk of the estate to Pauline Rosso, Olga Robinson, and their close relatives was admitted to probate. In January 1965 the probate court approved an order fixing inheritance tax based on a valuation of $500,000. Meanwhile, in December 1964 three Wisconsin religious institutions petitioned for revocation of probate of the will, and in May 1965 filed for probate as a last will an earlier will that had left the bulk of the estate to the religious institutions. In September 1968 the probate court approved an agreement between the contending parties, under which the contested probate of the admitted will was dropped, and $180,000 was paid out of the estate to the religious institutions. The probate court also approved payment from the estate of $120,000 for administrative and legal fees incurred in connection with the will contest and settlement.

In July 1970 Rosso and Robinson, as executors of the estate under the now-unchallenged will, petitioned for modification of the order fixing inheritance tax,2 and requested that the value of the estate be reduced by $300,000, the amount paid out in connection with the will contest and [142]settlement. The probate court denied the request for modification. Rosso and Robinson then filed in the superior court a “petition in equity” to set aside the order fixing inheritance tax on grounds of fraud, mistake, and general equitable principles. The court sustained a demurrer to the amended petition without leave to amend.

1. Appellants first contend the probate court erred in refusing to make findings of fact in connection with the order that denied modification of the order fixing intieritance tax. We find no error. Code of Civil Procedure section 632 requires findings of fact and conclusions of law only “upon trial of a question of fact.” The facts were uncontested. The sole issue was one of law, whether or not payments from the estate were deductible for inheritance tax purposes. Under these circumstances no specific findings of fact or conclusions of law were required. (See Johnson v. Security Ins. Co., 6 Cal.App.3d 839, 844-845 [86 Cal.Rptr. 133].)

2. Appellants’ primary attack on the order of the probate court is directed at the court’s failure to allow payments for settlement of the will contest and for related administrative expenses to be deducted from the value of the estate for inheritance tax purposes.