In Re the Estate of Hitchman

*465Utter, J.

This case raises the question of whether the recent revision of our inheritance tax laws applies to every estate for which taxes did not become due until after the new law's effective date or to only those estates of decedents who died after that date. We hold that inheritance tax accrues as of the date of death and that the express saving clause in the new law preserved all such obligations existing at the time the law became effective.

Decedent died on April 17, 1981, which under then existing law caused inheritance tax to accrue immediately. See former RCW 83.44.010. Payment of the…