Immediate vesting of specific bequests to trustees excludes the properties from estate wealth-tax assessment.

A will that specifically bequeaths identifiable properties to named trustees creates testamentary trusts that vest immediately on the testator's death, unless the bequest is expressly postponed by a condition or further act. Formal transfer is not essential where the testamentary intention is to pass the properties at death and the trustees alone hold the distribution power. On that basis, the properties had vested in the trustees and did not form part of the estate's wealth for wealth-tax purposes; the Revenue's appeals failed and exclusion of the three properties from the estate wealth was sustained.

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Issues: Whether the properties specifically bequeathed under the will vested in the trustees on the death of the testator and, if so, whether their value was includible in the wealth of the estate for wealth-tax purposes.

Analysis: The will created identifiable testamentary trusts and did not postpone vesting by any condition or further act. The intention of the testator was to pass the specific properties to the named trustees immediately on death, and the power of distribution lay with the trustees, not with the deceased or his estate. Under the law of succession, in the absence of a condition postponing bequest, the legacy vests on the death of the testator. The provisions relating to trusts also supported the conclusion that formal transfer was not essential for vesting in the case of testamentary trusts.

Conclusion: The properties vested in the trustees on the death of the testator and their value was not includible in the wealth of the estate.

Final Conclusion: The Revenue's appeals failed, and the deletion of the value of the three properties from the estate's wealth was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a will specifically bequeaths properties to named trustees without postponing vesting, the legacy vests immediately on the death of the testator and the properties cease to form part of the estate for wealth-tax assessment.

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