77-2002. Inheritance tax; property taxable; transfer in contemplation of death.

(1) Any interest in property whether created or acquired prior or subsequent to August 27, 1951, shall be subject to tax at the rates prescribed by sections 77-2004 to 77-2006, except property exempted by the provisions of Chapter 77, article 20, if it shall be transferred by deed, grant, sale, or gift, in trust or otherwise, and: (a) Made in contemplation of the death of the grantor; (b) intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment, after his or her death; (c) by reason of death, any person shall become beneficially entitled in possession or expectation to any property or income thereof; or (d) held as joint owners or joint tenants by the decedent and any other person in their joint names, except such part thereof as may be shown to have originally belonged to such other person and never to have been received or acquired by the latter from the decedent for less than an adequate and full consideration in money or property, except that when such property or any part thereof, or part of the consideration with which such property was acquired, is shown to have been at any time acquired by such other person from the decedent for less than an adequate and full consideration in money or property, there shall be excepted only such part of the value of such property as is proportionate to the consideration furnished by such other person or, when any property has been acquired by gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance by the decedent and any other person as joint owners or joint tenants and their interests are not otherwise specified or fixed by law, then to the extent of the value of a fractional part to be determined by dividing the value of the property by the number of joint owners or joint tenants.

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1) of this section, if the decedent, within a period of three years ending with the date of his or her death, except in the case of a bona fide sale for an adequate and full consideration for money or money's worth, transferred an interest in property for which a federal gift tax return is required to be filed under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, such transfer shall be deemed to have been made in contemplation of death within the meaning of subsection (1) of this section; no such transfer made before such three-year period shall be treated as having been made in contemplation of death in any event.

(3) Proceeds of life insurance receivable by a trustee, of either an inter vivos trust or a testamentary trust, as insurance under policies upon the life of the decedent shall not be subject to inheritance tax. This subsection shall not apply if the decedent's estate is the beneficiary of the trust.

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Annotations

Costs and attorney's fees in litigation independent of the estate are not deductible in inheritance tax proceedings. County of Keith v. Triska, 168 Neb. 1, 95 N.W.2d 350 (1959).

Contract subscribing money to college endowment and for scholarship payable on subscriber's death was donative and money thereby transferred therefor was taxable. In re Wheeler's Estate, 119 Neb. 344, 228 N.W. 861 (1930).

Lands, conveyed by deed in which grantor retained life estate and land conveyed by absolute deeds delivered after grantor's death not intended to take effect previously in possession or enjoyment, may be subject to inheritance tax. In re Estate of Bronzynski, 116 Neb. 196, 216 N.W. 558 (1927).