Department of Taxation v. Forsythe

The question to be determined is: Does a testamentary direction to the executor to expend a portion of the estate for the saying of Masses, without specification as to where or by whom the Masses are to be said, create a taxable succession?

The pertinent portions of Section 5332, General Code, read as follows:

“A tax is hereby levied upon the succession to any *489property passing, in trust or otherwise, to or for the use of a person, institution or corporation, in the following cases:

“1. When the succession is by will or by the intestate laws of this state from a person who was a resident of this…