Delaware Senate Bill 26 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Completed Legislative Action
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-4)
Status: Passed on August 5 2013 - 100% progression
Action: 2013-08-05 - Signed by Governor
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

This legislation provides a default procedure for equitably allocating the cost of estate taxes among beneficiaries of an estate. It replaces Delaware’s current apportionment statute, but retains its basic approach of apportioning estate taxes among beneficiaries in proportion to their respective legacies, unless a decedent directed a different allocation method in an appropriate estate planning document. The legislation addresses ambiguities in existing law and draws on many provisions in the Uniform Estate Tax Apportionment Act. In general, the draft statute provides that (1) a person may mandate a different apportionment method in a will or trust; (2) in the absence of such directions, estate taxes will be allocated to beneficiaries to the extent each beneficiary’s inheritance generates estate tax; (3) estate tax attributable to time-limited interests over which a beneficiary does not have access to principal is paid from principal; (4) for property included in the estate but not available to pay tax (“insulated property”), taxes are allocated to persons receiving other property, but those persons may recover the tax from the insulated property when it is distributed; (5) the executor or trustee is granted power to collect the tax from the beneficiary, as well as to defer distribution, withhold estate tax from a distribution, or require a distributee to give security to ensure payment. The statute would apply to decedents dying on or after January 1, 2014.

An Act To Amend Title 12 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Apportionment Of Estate Tax Liability.

Sen. Bryan Townsend [D]	Sen. Patricia Blevins [D]	Sen. Colin Bonini [R]	Sen. Bethany Hall-Long [D]
Sen. Gregory Lavelle [R]	Sen. Harris McDowell [D]	Sen. David Sokola [D]	Rep. Andria Bennett [D]
Rep. Helene Keeley [D]	Rep. Harold Peterman [R]	Rep. Bryon Short [D]	Rep. Melanie Smith [D]
Rep. Rebecca Walker [D]	Sen. Charles Paradee [D]	Sen. David Wilson [R]

2013-07-01 - House - House Third Reading (Y: 40 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 1) [PASS]
2013-05-14 - Senate - Senate Third Reading (Y: 21 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2013-08-05	Senate	Signed by Governor
2013-07-01	House	Passed by House of Representatives. Votes: Passed 40 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2013-06-05	House	Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in House with 1 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits
2013-05-15	House	Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House
2013-05-14	Senate	Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 21 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 0 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2013-03-27	Senate	Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits
2013-03-21	Senate	Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/262e588a5347f68b85257b340072661f?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+26/$file/legis.html?open
Roll Call	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/7712cf7cc0e9227a852568470077336f/9e81cc7f6f0eef7785257b6b00675bf9?OpenDocument
Roll Call	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/7712cf7cc0e9227a852568470077336f/16be3cf4c87f2c4e85257b9b001e89d1?OpenDocument