Death Duties - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition death-duties

Definition :

Death duties. These are (1) the Estate Duty, which, by the (English) Finance Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 30), superseded the Probate or Administration Duty leviable under the Stamp Act, 1815, and the Account Duty leviable under the (English) Customs and (English) Inland Revenue Act, 1881; (2) the Succession Duty leviable under the (English) Succession Duty Act, 1853; (English) and (3) the Legacy Duty leviable under the Stamp Act, 1815:- duties leviable on the passing of property by the death of a person to his successors; (4) Settlement Estate Duty was abolished in respect of all deaths after 11th May, 1914, (English) Finance Act, 1914, s. 14. It consisted of 1 per cent., increased to 2 per cent. by the (English) Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910, in addition to other duties on settled property. It was not payable on property settled before August 1st, 1894, and certain allowances are accorded by the (English) Finance Act of 1914. It is still payable in respect of deaths on or before May 11th, 1914. The Act of 1894 was amended by the (English) Finance Acts, 1896, 1900, and 1907, and in subsequent years. consult Hanson or Dymond on Death Duties. There is nothing illegal or immoral in making dispositions of property in order to escape death duties (per Lord Atkinson in A.-G. v. Richmond and Gordon (Duke), 1909 AC 475). See also ESTATE DUTY; SUCCESSION DUTY; LEGACY DUTY; SETTLEMENT ESTATE DUTY.