Roberts v. Commissioner of Revenue

The plaintiff is the widow of the Honorable George W. Roberts, an associate justice of the Municipal Court of the City of Boston who died in office on April 19, 1964, at the age of sixty, after more than fifteen years of service. She brought this proceeding to challenge the determination of the defendant’s predecessor that an inheritance tax was due on the value of the statutory pension payable to her. Acting under G. L. c. 65, § 27, a judge of the Probate and Family Court Department ruled that the plaintiff was entitled to an abatement of the inheritance tax assessed and paid on the value of…