INDUSTRIAL NATIONAL BANK OF RHODE ISLAND v. Lance

This will construction suit seeks instructions relative to the will of Robert 0. Lord who died a resident of Narragansett on January 9, 1968. The primary question presented for our determination is whether federal estate and state inheritance taxes are to be paid from the testator’s probate estate or should they be prorated over his entire taxable estate.

The controversy arises because of certain actions taken by the testator in 1961. On July 31 of that year he created an irrevocable inter vivos trust. The trust called for the payment of income to the settlor during his life, and upon his…