Cooper's Estate

Opinion by

Mr. Chief Justice Kephart,

Where a trust is created in which the settlor reserves a life interest in the income, such interest is subject to the tax imposed by the Act of June 20, 1919, P. L. 521: Dean’s Est., 279 Pa. 582; Leffman’s Est., 312 Pa. 236. Appellant, trustee, claimed decedent’s interest as a gift through a release of the income from the settlor. She had therefore the burden of proof: Smith’s Est., 237 Pa. 115; Sullivan v. Hess, 241 Pa. 407.

In 1924 Harriet Cooper sold a property and took a purchase-money mortgage for $45,000. She assigned this mortgage to Grace Corliss,…