Cranston

Edgar T. Zook, executor of the will of Ruth S. Zook, appeals from an order of the superior court which, because certain of decedent’s grandchildren had been adopted by their stepfather, fixed the inheritance tax on bequests *493 to those grandchildren as if such bequests had been made to strangers.

The decedent was survived hy five grandchildren, three the children of her daughter Mary and two the children of her son Edgar. Prior to his mother’s death Edgar had been divorced, his former wife had remarried, and their two children had been adopted, with Edgar’s consent, by his wife’s second husband. By her will decedent recognized Edgar’s children as her grandchildren, notwithstanding their adoption, and left the same bequests to them as she did to the children of Mary. The controller classified Mary’s children as class A transferees for purposes of determining the inheritance tax, but he classified Edgar’s children as class D transferees, or strangers. 1 The superior court, after hearing, overruled the executor’s objections and fixed the tax on the basis of the controller’s classifications.

Section 13307, subdivision (a) of the Revenue and Taxation Code clearly provides that…