Estate of Gerhard v. Cram

Moore, Justice:

This is a will construction case involving allocation of the liability for estate taxes. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

FACTS

Decedent Gerhard died September 16, 1990. At the time of his death, Decedent’s gross estate for purposes of federal and state estate tax liability1 included the following assets:

1) Real estate $1,200,000.00

2) Mortgages, notes and cash 134,134.79

3) Miscellaneous property 95,059.01

4) Transfer during life 2,082,424.53

5) Power of appointment 446,368.87

Item no. 4, “Transfer during life,” refers to the corpus of a trust created by Decedent in 1931…