The testator’s intent controls the source of tax payment

The testator gave his residuary estate to four persons in equal shares. Three of those persons were relatives and exempt from state inheritance tax; the fourth was not. The will required that all taxes be paid out of the residuary estate “as an expense of the administration of my estate without apportionment.” In Pfeufer v. Cyphers, 919 A.2d 641 (Md. 2007), the court held that the testator’s intent governs the apportionment of inheritance tax and that the language in the will indicated that the inheritance tax be paid from the residue before its division into the required four shares.