Simpson

The executor of the estate of Harold T. Simpson used estate assets to pay more than $250,000 interest on delinquent estate taxes. The sole issue on appeal is the proper source of funding for this interest payment. Harold’s surviving wife, Verna Mae Simpson, contends, and the trial court agreed, the interest should have been paid from the corpus of Harold’s residuary estate. Harold’s daughter from a former marriage, Sally Ann White, contends the interest should have been paid from income earned on estate assets during the probate period. Viewing the terms of Harold’s will and the applicable statutes (Prob. Code, § 20100 et seq.), we conclude the court properly held the interest on delinquent taxes should be paid from the corpus of the residuary estate. Verna, as the income beneficiary of the testamentary trust funded by that corpus, was therefore entitled to the income from the assets earned during probate without reduction for the payment of delinquent tax interest. Accordingly, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

Harold died on November 1, 1987, leaving an estate of approximately $6.3 million. He was survived by Verna, Sally, and several…