Final Determination of Domicil in the United States

Abstract

The death in 1930 of Dr. John T. Dorrance, Campbell Soup magnate, has raised a question of the utmost importance to persons who desire their estates to be subjected to but one inheritance tax and to states desirous of replenishing diminished treasuries by collecting a tax upon every possible estate. Upon the death of Dr. Dorrance, both New Jersey and Pennsylvania assessed an inheritance tax against that part of the estate which consisted of shares of stock in the Campbell Soup Co. which was valued in excess of a hundred and fifteen million dollars. Before any litigation arose out of this situation, those most interested in the estate obviously preferred to pay the New Jersey inheritance tax rather than the Pennsylvania tax, the difference between the two amounting to five million dollars. Indeed, this was clearly the desire of the decedent before his death, as he had taken every precaution known to the legal profession at that time to insure that his estate would be subjected only to the New Jersey tax. Plans of the decedent, however, were upset when the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1932 found that Dr. Dorrance had been domiciled at his death in Pennsylvania and that the estate was thus subject to the death duties of that state. The estate petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The writ was denied without opinion.