Overriding charge on estate excluded widows' maintenance from taxable income where diversion occurred at source before receipt.

Maintenance allowances paid to widows under a court-declared charge on the estate were treated as diverted at source and not as income received by the assessee. Because the payment was made under an overriding legal charge arising from family litigation, the amount never formed part of the assessee's taxable receipt. The text states that the maintenance allowance was therefore not assessable as income in the assessee's hands and the reference was answered in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether maintenance allowances paid to the widows under a charge on the estate constituted assessable income in the hands of the assessee.

Analysis: The allowance was payable under a court-declared charge on the estate arising out of the family litigation and was not a mere application of income after receipt. The amount was diverted at source before it could become the assessee's income, so what was paid to the widows never formed part of his taxable receipt.

Conclusion: The maintenance allowance was not assessable as income in the assessee's hands, and the reference was answered in the negative in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where income is diverted by an overriding legal charge before it reaches the assessee, the diverted sum is not taxable as the assessee's income.

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