ESTATE OF PIONEER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 197, 2 June 1945, Page 3

ESTATE OF PIONEER.

CASE IN SUPREME COURT. Reginald Walter George Fitzgerald Stannus and Charles Hinton du Pre, of London, solicitors, and administrators of the estate of Evelyn'Margaret Stannus, were appellants in a case in the Supreme Court, in Christchurch yesterday, before Mr Justifce--North-croft, in which the question to be decided was as to whether gift duty was rightly payable on an amount of £IO,OOO. ’ ■■ .- 1 •••’ Mr A. C. Perry appeared for the appellants and Mr A. W. Brown represented the respondent, the Commissioner of Taxes. Mr Perry said that Duncaix Cameron, a successful farmer of Springfield, Methven, left a large estate. His widow had died since. There was a life interest in the residue of the estate directed to two daughters, Mrs Lister and Mrs Stannus, in equal shares; but it was directed that it be only on the income, and that the capital after the death of the daughters was to go to the children as they might appoint. The will gave’ power of advancement in favour of the infant child, and Mrs Stannus’s child asked for an advancement, and on request to the trustees the mother, Mrs Stannus, surrendered her life interest in the £IO,OOO requpired. The questions for the Court to decide were whether the money was a gift, and if it was a gift was it a gift of New Zealand property, as half the estate was in England and Mrs Stannus lived in England, or was the respondent correct in law in that her release of her life interest in the sum of £IO,OOO was a gift within the meaning of the Death Duties Act, and that such a gift attracted gift duty. His Honor reserved decision.