Seventeen Millions

SEVENTEEN MILLIONS

Of Property in the Probate Court in a Year

INHERITANCE TAX $8727

Thirty-six Estate Have Paid This Tax - Some Figures as to the Work Done by Probate Court

Few people have any idea of the value of property administered in the probate court every year. If one were asked if a million dollars would cover it he would probably reply that it was great sufficiency and yet the estates administered by the probate court exceed in value seventeen times that.

From Nov. 1, 1901, to Dec. 1, 1902, two hundred and fifty estates were adjusted in the probate court of Washtenaw county. The sum total value of these estates amounts to $17,478,149.12, of which about three fourths is realty valuation. In the entire number only one trustee's bond has been filed and that was for $35,000. There were ninety-eight petitions for administration, thirty-six nominations for guardianship, thirteen applications for adoption and change of name, twelve applications for admission to the asylum, seventy-seven petitions to probate wills, one petition to sell personalty, four to convey to state schools the heirs of the estate, two petitions for special administration, one petition for ancillary administration with will annexed, two the appointment of a trustee and three petitions to determine upon the heirs.

Perhaps the most interesting figures which have been dug up along this line are those relating to the inheritance tax, which though it is comparatively small shows that the law is at work slowly but surely. Thirty-six estates have come under the inheritance tax, netting the state $8,727.61. It is very probable that in some instances transfers of property were effected in contemplation of approaching death and thus the tax was avoided for the time being. However, the probate court has a drag net out for all such property and it is gradually being gathered into its meshes. An extensive follow-up system has to be resorted to in a majority of cases in order to determine whether or no the estate has been properly taxed. So thorough and exhausting is this method of procedure that very often it takes months to determine whether there is any merit in the case under investigation.