Executor's assessment of estate assets continues until probate and assent complete title under the will.

Under the Wealth-tax Act, a deceased person's estate is chargeable in the hands of the executor under section 19A, and separate assessments continue until the estate is fully distributed. The Indian Succession Act requires the executor's assent to complete a legatee's title, and probate conclusively establishes the will and the executrix's appointment. On the stated facts, the assessee remained only executrix and did not become absolute owner merely as ultimate beneficiary under the wills. The parents' estates therefore continued as separate assessable estates, and the assets were not includible in the assessee's personal net wealth on the relevant valuation date.

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Issues: Whether the assets left by the assessee's parents were includible in the assessee's wealth for wealth-tax purposes before probate was granted, or whether such assets remained assessable as separate estates in the hands of the executrix under the Wealth-tax Act.

Analysis: The net wealth of a deceased person's estate is chargeable in the hands of the executor under section 19A of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, and separate assessments are to be made until complete distribution of the estate. Under the Indian Succession Act, 1925, the executor's assent is necessary to complete a legatee's title, and probate is conclusive proof of the genuineness of the will and the appointment of the executrix. On the facts, the assessee remained executrix and had not become absolute owner merely because she was named as ultimate beneficiary under the wills; the estates of the parents continued to be separate until probate and due administration.

Conclusion: The assets were not includible in the assessee's personal net wealth for the relevant valuation date and were assessable only as the deceased parents' estates in the hands of the executrix.

Ratio Decidendi: Until probate is granted and the executor's assent completes title under the will, the deceased's estate remains assessable separately in the hands of the executor and does not become part of the legatee's own net wealth.

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