File No. 811.5124/11.]
The Secretary of State to the Minister of Denmark.
Washington, June 12, 1912.
Sir: In further reply to your Legation’s memorandum of April 17 last, in the matter of the inheritance tax on the share of the estate [Page 328] of Metta K. Peterson inherited by Karoline Krag, a Danish subject, of Copenhagen, I have the honor to advise you that the Department is in receipt of a report on this case from the Attorney General, from which it appears that the tax has been paid and the administration closed, Karoline Krag, by her attorney, having signed a receipt for “all money and other property to which I am [she is] entitled in said matter in full.” Under these circumstances the Attorney General doubts whether Karoline Krag would have sufficient ground upon which to base a suit for the recovery of the inheritance tax, even under an Iowa State statute permitting the correction of mistakes in probate proceedings by a suit in a court of equity, as the court would be likely to consider that the plaintiff, having receipted in full for her share of the estate, after a final report had been properly filed with the Probate Court by the administrator, and due notice thereof given to the heirs, is estopped from questioning the proceedings of the Probate Court.
If, however, Karoline Krag desires to institute proceedings under this statute in a court of equity, this Department understands that the Department of Justice will be glad, if need be, to assist her attorney in every proper way during the progress of the suit.
Accept [etc.],