(1996)

Dear Ms. Dauenhauer:

You have requested our opinion whether certain expenses are deductible from non-probate estates in determining the value of the estate for inheritance tax purposes. More specifically, you asked about the continuing validity of a prior Attorney General's opinion, 44 Opinions of the Attorney General 337 (1959), in which this Office opined that expenses ordinarily deductible from probate estates are deductible from non-probate trust estates when the trust instrument expressly so provides.

Our opinion is that the conclusion in the 1959 opinion remains valid. At the same time,…