In Re Johnson Estate

In this case, we are asked to decide whether the probate court has the authority to redetermine an inheritance tax more than ninety days after the final tax determination has been entered and the estate closed. We conclude that it does not and we reverse.

H. Roy Johnson married Esther Pailthorp on October 22, 1955. At the time of the marriage, Esther had a twelve-year-old daugther and a son, petitioner in this action, who had turned seventeen years of age approximately forty-five days prior to the marriage. Johnson, predeceased by his wife, died on June 26, 1981, leaving a will in which he…