Arbuckle's Estate

Citations

• 252 Pa. 161
• 97 A. 186
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 586

Syllabus

<p>Decedents’ estate — Partnership—Collateral inheritance tax — Intestacy of partner — Partnership agreement — Beal estate — Cornersion.</p> <p>Decedent, a resident of New York, was at the time of his death one- of two partners composing a firm of grocery dealers with a main place of business in New York. A branch house owned by the firm was established and operated in Pittsburgh and the partners owned several pieces of real estate which were used in connection with the Pittsburgh business. These properties had been conveyed to them as'partners and “not as tenants in common.” The copartnership agreement provided that in the event of the death of either partner, the survivor should continue the business and pay the estate of the deceased partner his net interest in the same as of the date of the death, the value of the interest to be ascertained by taking an account of the stock and having the real estate appraised, the interest of the deceased partner to be paid for by the surviving partner in installments at certain periods. In an action by the Commonwealth for the purpose of collecting a collateral inheritance tax on the interest of the partnership assets of the Pittsburgh branch of the firm it was held that, under the partnership agreement, no interest in the partnership had passed to the estate of the decedent upon his death, but only a chose in action, a right to demand payment for the value of his interest in the partnership, and said chose in action did not pass to the next of kin of the deceased, but to his personal representatives as part of his personal estate having its situs in the State of New York, and that therefore the Commonwealth cannot collect such inheritance tax.</p>