Senate Bill No. 272

Introduced By aklestad, crippen, lynch, devlin, thomas, foster, grosfield, halligan, van valkenburg, wilson

By Request of the Senate Judiciary Committee



A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act extending the inheritance tax exemption for stepchildren; amending section

72-16-313, MCA; and providing an immediate effective date and, a retroactive applicability date, A RETROACTIVE APPLICABILITY DATE, AN APPLICABILITY DATE, AND A TERMINATION DATE."



Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:



Section 1.  Section 72-16-313, MCA, is amended to read:

"72-16-313.   Exemptions of spouse and other relatives. (1) The clear value of all property distributed or passing to a decedent's surviving spouse is exempt.

(2)  The clear value of all property distributed or passing to the following is exempt:

(a)  any child or lineal descendant of the decedent. A determination as to establishment of the parent and child relationship or establishment of a person as a lineal descendant must be made in accordance with the rules for determining relationship for purposes of intestate succession under Title 72, chapter 2, part 1.

(b)  any stepchild, as defined in 72-2-613, of the decedent, provided the relationship began on or before the stepchild's 18th birthday if, prior to death, the decedent and the child stood in the mutually acknowledged relationship of parent and child or stepparent and stepchild.

(3)  The following amounts are exempt:

(a)  property of the clear value of $7,000 transferred to each of the persons who have attained majority described in 72-16-321(1); and

(b)  property of the clear value of $1,000 transferred to each of the persons described in 72-16-321(2)."



NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Retroactive applicability. [This act] applies retroactively, within the meaning of 1-2-109, to the estates of decedents occurring on or after January 1, 1995.



NEW SECTION. SECTION 2.  RETROACTIVE APPLICABILITY. [THIS ACT] APPLIES RETROACTIVELY, WITHIN THE MEANING OF 1-2-109, TO THE ESTATES OF DECEDENTS OCCURRING ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 1995.



NEW SECTION. SECTION 3.  TERMINATION -- APPLICABILITY. (1) [SECTION 1] TERMINATES JULY 1, 1999.

(2) NOTWITHSTANDING THE PROVISIONS OF SUBSECTION (1), [SECTION 1] APPLIES TO ALL INHERITANCE TAXES ARISING FROM DEATHS OCCURRING BETWEEN JANUARY 1, 1995, [THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ACT] JANUARY 1, 1995, AND JULY 1, 1999.



NEW SECTION. Section 4.  Effective date. [This act] is effective on passage and approval.

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