John T. Dorrance Jr. was the chairman of the Campbell Soup Company from 1962 to 1984, . It was important to him that he keep his New Jersey residence in order that the trusts which he intended to create out of his fortune should be maintained under New Jersey law in order to carry out his purposes, and also important in the matter of taxes which his estate would be called upon to pay if he became domiciled in Pennsylvania. John Dorrance 1895Samuel Prescott 1894. DISSENTING OPINION BY MR. JUSTICE SCHAFFER: It seems to me that the majority opinion does not give that full weight to the intention of the decedent which should be given. If he really believed he was a New Jersey resident after 1925, it seems unnecessary for him to have entered into an agreement with his wife concerning the matter, or to have secured his appointment as a member of a commission to investigate the question of compulsory insurance for motor vehicles within the State of New Jersey, or to have written his most intimate friends and associates that he was not a Pennsylvanian. Following Dorrance's death, there was significant . The property with eight bedrooms and ten bathrooms stands in a 50 acre estate in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, has been restored to its heyday by Burch and it now resembles again the home John Dorrance Sr's son once acquired. He wished to retain New Jersey citizenship because in that state his taxes would not be as heavy as in this State. The luxury residence of Campbell's billionaire Jack Dorrance has gone on the market more than 20 years after his death. He retired in 1984 as chairman of Campbell Soup Co., for which he had worked since 1946. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that he was domiciled in Pennsylvania, and the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that he was domiciled in New Jersey, and his estate was required to pay estate tax to both states. While in appeals on certiorari the appellate court will not usually overrule findings of fact which have evidence to support them, yet it will review conclusions of law based upon undisputed facts. In 1895 he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after which he attended the University of Gttingen in Germany, where he took his doctor's degree in chemistry. "A declaration [as to domicile] that is self-serving and not followed by acts in accordance with the declaration will not be regarded as conclusive, but will yield to the intent which the acts and conduct of the person clearly indicate": In re Paris's Est., 176 N.Y. S. 879, 882. 405-406 ("Domicile," section 13); Jacobs on the Law of Domicile, (edition 1887), sections 421-424; Minor, Conflict of Laws, section 64, (page 123); 1 Wharton, Conflict of Laws, (3d edition), 144, (section 69). When he came to Radnor to live in 1925 he was not only resuming his domicile of origin, but was purposely making his home in a neighborhood more congenial to his family and more suitable to his position in life than the New Jersey location which he left. Rejected Offers From Three Universities and a College to Join Their Faculties. (As to burden of proof in such case see Collins v. City of Ashland, 112 Fed. But this does not mean that where a man has two actual residences, either one of which may be his domicile, he is not free to choose between them. Jack died at his home, in Bryn Mawr, Penn., of an apparent heart attack on Apr. Pursuant to directions contained in his will, it was admitted to probate in the office of the . Div. Executors of the estate had already begun to pay $12,000,000 tax to the State of New Jersey on an appraisal there of $114,850,733. Nearby Recently Sold Homes. A direct statement, in short, that D considers himself domiciled, or to have his home in France, though it may sometimes be important, may often carry little weight. Recitals in deeds and wills are not given weight in determining domicile in comparison with the evidence supplied by the daily life of the individual and his acts and conduct. . Moreover, even these criticisms emphasize the deliberate intention to retain his domicile in New Jersey. Nor may the fact that much of the family's social life centered about the new residence be so considered. By every spoken declaration which he made, and by almost his every act, except the mere purchase of the Radnor house and his occupying it himself more than he occupied the one at Cinnaminson, he indicated that he had not intended to change his domicile. See Price v. Price, 156 Pa. 617; Pickering v. Winch, 48 Oregon 500. He oversaw the company's development into frozen dinners and was in charge when Andy Warhol painted his first Campbell's soup can. The house in the city was boarded up and little used. In our opinion the evidence clearly establishes the legal domicile of Dr. Dorrance to be in Pennsylvania and accordingly there is due the Commonwealth an inheritance transfer tax, based upon the agreed value of his estate at the time of his death. I would affirm the judgment of the court below. All of the countertop space is done in pure white marble. 3. The floor is all mahogany wood and the panels of the cabinets, two islands, and appliance housings are all dark wood as well. 2023 Forbes Media LLC. Mrs. Dorrance was not as consistent as her husband in her declarations concerning residence. "Apart from possible exceptions, a man cannot retain a domicile in one place when he has moved to another and intends to reside there for the rest of his life, by any wish, declaration or intent inconsistent with the dominant facts of where he actually lives and what he actually means to do": National City Bank v. Hotchkiss, 231 U.S. 50, 56; Dickinson v. Brookline, 181 Mass. In 1924 the living expenses at Cinnaminson were slightly over twenty-nine thousand dollars. At the start of his business career, Dr. John T. Dorrance established his residence at a boarding house in Camden, New Jersey, living there until 1905, when he moved to the Robeson Apartments in the same city. Duncan P. Forgey, author of the Dorrance title Flyin' Kai: A Pelican's Tale, was interviewed by Stu News Newport! Shortly before his death, he made definite and detailed plans for additions and improvements to the place at Cinnaminson. After his education, he became employed in New Jersey. 38; Hunnings v. Hunnings, 55 Pa. Super. When either he or the members of his family went away on vacations they started from "Woodcrest" and returned there afterwards. Home John T. Dorrances Mansion in Gladwyne, PA (Listed for $19.5 Million), Coronavirus is So Bringing the Tete-a-Tete Chair Back, Andy Warhols House in The Hamptons, NY (Listed for $85 Million), John T. Dorrances Mansion in Gladwyne, PA (Listed for $19.5 Million), Homestratosphere's Editorial Staff & Writers, Los Angeles Modern Stilt Home Featured in Heat (Listed for $1.599 Million), International House Flipper Alex Camacho Makes $80k Profit on One House Flip, Bugsy Siegel Murder Mansion in Beverly Hills Flats (Listed for $17 Million), Zsa Zsa Gabors Pink Palm Springs Palace (Listed for $3.8 Million), 35 Kitchen Breakfast Bars The Latest In Casual Kitchen Dining. Having now ascertained that intention alone cannot defeat the acquisition of a new domicile where other facts show a change of domicile has actually occurred, it remains to consider whether the evidence in this case is sufficient to warrant a finding that Dorrance was domiciled in Pennsylvania, as contended by appellant. ., we would have little doubt in adjudging that he never lost his legal residence in Tennessee and only had an actual residence in Paducah for the purpose of conducting the business in which he was there engaged, all the while having it in mind to return to Tennessee when the objects of his sojourn in Paducah had been accomplished. The legal effect of one's acts in contradistinction to an expressed intention in regard to domicile is well stated in the case of Pettit's Exrx. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. Where a man has a domicile, he does not lose it unless he abandons it. Col. John Dorrance Colvin III, age 80, passed away July 14, 2020. This thought is clearly expressed in Ford v. Peck, 116 Kan. 74, 76, as follows: "It is elementary law that change of domicile, as from Oklahoma to Salina, Kansas, involves two things, designated by classical authors as the factum and the animus. The Commonwealth having established by adequate evidence that, at the time of his death, Dorrance had an actual residence in Pennsylvania, it was incumbent upon the executors to rebut the presumption arising therefrom by satisfactory proof that he resided in New Jersey or that the Pennsylvania residence was intended merely for a temporary purpose. Weber), aviation (Dorrance), gardening (Hamilton), art (Weber) and real estate. Whether the established domicile was one of origin or choice can make no difference in principle. John Thompson Dorrance 1919 - 1989 . would be nearer my associates." Here, the furnishings are a bit more down to earth, with yellow chairs on one side of the room and blue on the other. Dorrance discussed this with his lawyer, stating he had denied to them any intention of giving up his domicile in New Jersey. We fail to find in the record, after careful search, any convincing testimony of a bona fide intention upon his part or that of any member of his family, to occupy "Woodcrest" for any other than an indefinite period, and in fact to make it the "technically preminent headquarters" of himself and family after November, 1925. When Robert Burch's family moved to Gladwyne in 1999, having paid $9.3 million for an estate at 1543 Monk Road, they'd been living on a huge farm. He lived in the Radnor house more than he did in the New Jersey one, but never permitted it to be occupied by anyone except his mother and sister for a short time. . The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that, "In Ireland, he can pay half the 30 percent U.S. tax rate on dividends, and when he dies, his estate will be taxed at 35 percent, rather than 55 percent in the United States." He is married with two children and lives in Dublin. Grandfather John T. Dorrance, inventor of condensed-soup process, bought out his uncle's Campbell Preserve Company in 1914. . . At the argument it was stated that the officers of the Commonwealth had been refused access to the grounds at "Woodcrest" for the purpose of taking photographs. Intention is a state of mind, evidenced, it is true, by acts, but it may be shown by words as well. At the start of his business career he established his residence at a boarding house in Camden, living there until 1905, when he moved to the Robeson Apartments in the same city. The Orphans' Court of Delaware County has set aside the appraisement of the Commonwealth for transfer inheritance tax purposes. . ACTION ALLOWS APPEAL Reargurnent Still to Be Heard on Executors' Claim of New Jersey Residence.. . It should also be noted that neither of these elements can exercise a controlling effect, though intention may arise from the established fact; as where one's conduct conclusively shows his residence to be in one place, his expressed intention that it shall be in another place may not override the fact so as to locate it there. Practically his entire time, except when absent on vacations, was spent there. While he did not actually own the large area of land in New Jersey which was tributary to his business, in effect he did, because he owned all the capital stock of the Campbell Soup Company, which in turn owned the land. In 1906 he married Ethel Mallinckrodt, with whom he had five children. In Re Dorrance's Estate John T. Dorrance - President and Founder of Campbell Soup Company.