Pipkin v. Hays

O’QUINN, Justice.

This is a declaratory judgment action brought by a devisee and one of the two independent executors of a will, seeking construction of a provision in the will affecting the burden of taxation.

The question to be decided is whether, by use of the phrase “any and all inheritance taxes,” the testatrix intended the term to encompass all “death taxes,” including “estate taxes.”

Enid T. Hays made her will on July 10, 1953, in which she designated Rachel Gan-sel Pipkin as executrix and Robert D. Hays as executor under provisions constituting them independent executors. Dr. Aaron Ross…