Property Interests within Nebraska Inheritance Tax Provisions

The 1901 Nebraska Legislature in enacting the inheritance tax, following the provisions of most other states, subjected to this tax not only property passing by will or intestacy or transferred in contemplation of death but also all lifetime transfers intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment after death or under which, and as a result of death, any person or body corporate shall become beneficially entitled in possession or expectation to any property or income thereof. Although the statute exists in substantially the same form today, its scope is largely undetermined by Nebraska Supreme Court decisions. Based upon the body of state law, the Federal Estate Tax, when first enacted in 1916, included a tax upon transfers in contemplation of or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after death. The federal statute provided a tax upon transfers taking effect at or after death while the Nebraska statute taxed those taking effect only after death. The federal statute contained no provision comparable to the Nebraska clause imposing a tax on transfers under which one becomes beneficially entitled in possession or expectation to any property by reason of death. The federal statute has been construed and amended many times since its original enactment. This article considers the comparative development of the federal and Nebraska statutes and the relevance of the present federal law in applying the present Nebraska statute