ESTATE TAX APPORTIONMENT
CHAPTER 27117
H.B. No. 855
An Act providing for the apportionment of estate taxes upon
estates administered in the courts of this state.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oklahoma:
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act.
Section 2. Definitions
In this Act:
(1) "Estate" means the gross estate of a decedent as determined for
the purpose of Federal estate tax and the estate tax payable to this State;
(2) "Fiduciary" means executor, administrator of any description, and
trustee;

17. 58 O.S.Supp.1965, §5 2001-2011.

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(3) "Person" means any Individual, partnership, association, joint
stock company, corporation, government, political subdivision, govern-
mental agency, or local governmental agency;
(4) "Person interested in the estate" means any person, including a
personal representative, guardian, or trustee, entitled to receive, or who
has received, from a decedent while alive or by reason of the death of a
decedent any property or interest therein included in the decedent's taxa-
ble estate;
(5) "State" means any state, territory, or possession of the United
States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
and
(6) "Tax" means the Federal estate tax and the estate tax payable to
this State and interest and penalties imposed in addition to the tax.
Section 3. Apportionment of tax among interested persons
Unless the will otherwise provides, the tax shall be apportioned among
all persons interested In the estate. The apportionment shall be made
in the proportion that the value of the interest of each person interested
in the estate bears to the total value of the interests of all persons in-
terested in the estate. The values used in determining the tax shall be
used for that purpose.
Section 4. Determination of apportionment
(a) The County Court having jurisdiction over the administration of the
estate of a decedent shall determine the apportionment of the tax. If
there are no probate proceedings, the County Court of the county wherein
the decedent was domiciled at death shall determine the apportionment
of the tax upon the application of the person required to pay the tax.
(b) If the County Court finds that it is inequitable to apportion inter-
est and penalties in the manner provided in this Act because of special
circumstances, it may direct apportionment thereon in the manner it finds
equitable.
(c) The expenses reasonably incurred by any fiduciary and by any
other person interested in the estate in connection with the determination
of the amount and apportionment of the tax shall be apportioned as pro-
vided in Section 2 and charged and collected as a part of the tax appor-
tioned. If the County Court finds that it is inequitable to apportion the
expenses as provided in Section 3, it may direct apportionment thereof
equitably.
(d) If the County Court finds that the assessment of penalties and
interest assessed in relation to the tax is due to delay caused by the negli-
gence of the fiduciary, the court may charge the fiduciary with the amount
of the assessed penalties and interest.
(e) In any suit or judicial proceeding to recover from any person in-
terested in the estate the amount of the tax apportioned to the person in
accordance with this act, the determination of the County Court In re-
spect thereto is prima fade correct.
Section 5. Withholding from property amount of tax attributable-
Bond
(a) The fiduciary or other person required to pay the tax may with-
hold from any property of the decedent in his possession, distributable
to any person interested in the estate, the amount of tax attributable to
his interest. If the property in possession of the fiduciary or other person
required to pay the tax and distributable to any person Interested in the
estate is insufficient to satisfy the proportionate amount of the tax de-
termined to be due from the person, the fiduciary or other person re-
quired to pay the tax may recover the deficiency from the person inter-
ested in the estate. If the property is not in the possession of the fidu-
ciary or other person required to pay the tax, the fiduciary or the other
person required to pay the tax may recover from any person interested
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1965 REGULAR SESSION

in the estate the amount of the tax apportioned to the person in accord-
ance with this Act.
(b) If property held by the fiduciary or other person is distributed
prior to final apportionment of the tax, the fiduciary or other person may
require the distributee to provide a bond or other security for the appor-
tionment liability in the form and amount prescribed by the fiduciary,
with the approval of the County Court having jurisdiction of the admin-
istration of the estate.
Section 6. Allowances
(a) In making an apportionment, allowances shall be made for any
exemptions granted, any classification made of persons interested in the
estate, and for any deductions and credits allowed by the law imposing
the tax.
(b) Any exemption or deduction allowed by reason of the relationship
of any person to the decedent or by reason of the purposes of the gift
inures to the benefit of the person bearing that relationship or receiving
the gift. When an interest is subject to a prior present interest which is
not allowable as a deduction the tax apportionable against the present
interest shall be paid from principal.
(c) Any deduction for property previously taxed and any credit for
gift taxes or death taxes of a foreign country paid by the decedent or his
estate inures to the proportionate benefit of all persons liable to apportion-
ment.
(d) Any credit for inheritance, succession or estate taxes or taxes in
the nature thereof in respect to property or interests includable in the
estate inures to the benefit of the persons or interests chargeable with the
payment thereof to the extent that, or in proportion as, the credit reduces
the tax.
(e) To the extent that property passing to or in trust for a surviving
spouse or any charitable, public, or similar gift or bequest does not con-
stitute an allowable deduction for purposes of the tax solely by reason
of an inheritance tax or other death tax imposed upon and deductible
from the property, the property shall not be included in the computation
provided for in this Act, and to that extent no apportionment shall be
made against the property. This does not apply in any instance where
the result will be to deprive the estate of a deduction otherwise allowable
under Section 2053 (d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 of the
United States, relating to deduction for State death taxes on transfers
for public, charitable or religious uses, or similar federal legislation.
Section 7. Temporary interest in property
No interest in income and no estate for years or for life or other tem-
porary interest in any property or fund is subject to apportionment as
between the temporary interest and the remainder. The tax on the
temporary interest and the tax, if any, on the remainder is chargeable
against the corpus of the property or funds subject to the temporary in-
terest and remainder.
Section 8. Uncollectible amounts
Neither the fiduciary nor other person required to pay the tax Is under
any duty to institute any suit or proceeding to recover from any person
interested in the estate the amount of the tax apportioned to that person
until the expiration of the three months next following final determina-
tion of the tax. A fiduciary or other person required to pay the tax who
institutes the suit or proceeding within a reasonable time after the three
months' period is not subject to any liability or surcharge because any
portion of the tax apportioned to any person interested in the estate was
collectible at a time following the death of the decedent but thereafter
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became uncollectible. If the fiduciary or other person required to pay
the tax cannot collect from any person interested in the estate the amount
of the tax apportioned to the person, the amount not recoverable shall
be paid from the residuary estate. To the extent that the residuary es-
tate is not adequate, the balance shall be equitably apportioned among
the other persons interested in the estate who are subject to apportion-
ment.
Section 9. Fiduciaries or persons domiciled in other states
Subject to this section a fiduciary acting in another state or a person
required to pay the tax who is domiciled in another state may institute an
action in the courts of this State and may recover a proportionate amount
of the Federal estate tax or an estate tax payable to another state or of a
death duty due by a decedent's estate to another state from a person
interested in the estate who is either domiciled In this State or who owns
property in this State subject to attachment or execution. For the pur-
poses of the action the determination of apportionment by the court hav-
ing jurisdiction of the administration of the decedent's estate in the other
state is prima facie correct. The provisions of this section apply only if
the state in which the determination of apportionment was made affords
a substantially similar remedy.
Section 10. Construction as uniform law
This Act shall be construed to effectuate its general purpose to make
uniform the law of those states which enact it.
Section 11. Severability
If any provision of this Act or the application thereof to any person
or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provi-
sions or applications of the Act which can be given effect without the
invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act
are severable.
Section 12. Applicability
This Act does not apply to taxes due on account of the death of dece-
dents dying prior to six months after the enactment of this Act.
Approved June 23, 1965.

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