Payments, how enforced. pany, corporation, bank or other institution making the delivery or transfer; and the payments as herein provided shall be enforced in an action of assumpsit to be instituted and maintained by the Attorney General or other person or officer duly authorized by him, and any judgment rendered in such action shall carry costs to be taxed as in other cases. Approved May 11, 1915. Section amended. County surveyor to obtain copies of field notes and plats. How paid for. Former records, etc., how obtained. [No. 196.] AN ACT to amend section one hundred two of chapter fourteen of the Revised Statutes of eighteen hundred forty-six, relative to county surveyors, as amended by act number one hundred forty of the Public Acts of eighteen hundred sixtynine, being compiler's section two thousand six hundred twenty-four of the Compiled Laws of eighteen hundred ninety-seven. The People of the State of Michigan enact: SECTION 1. Section one hundred two of chapter fourteen of the Revised Statutes of eighteen hundred forty-six, relative to county surveyors, as amended by act number one hundred forty of the Public Acts of eighteen hundred sixtynine, being compiler's section two thousand six hundred twenty-four of the Compiled Laws of eighteen hundred ninetyseven, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: SEC. 102. The county surveyor shall contract with the Commissioner of the State Land Office, or with any person having possession of the same, for certified copies of the field notes and plats of the original surveys by the United States, of the lands of his county, and if such contract be approved by the board of supervisors of his county, the county surveyor shall, upon receiving such copies, direct the county clerk to draw an order upon the treasurer of his county for the amount so agreed upon, and transmit it to the said commissioner, or other person to whom it may be due, and shall have said plats and field notes substantially bound in book form, which shall be kept open in the said county surveyor's office for the benefit of the public; and all records of surveys, field notes and calculations made by any former county surveyor since the organization of the State government, and now in the hands of such former county surveyor, or of any other person, shall, on demand of the county surveyor of the proper county, be immediately delivered to him as a part of the records and files of his office, and the boards of supervisors of the several counties shall respectively audit and allow to the persons entitled thereto, such sum as they shall deem a reasonable compensation for the expense of the books containing such records. All such records of surveys, field notes, and calculations Admissible made by any former county surveyor, which have been or shall in evidence. have been on file in the office of either the county surveyor, register of deeds or county clerk for a period of fifteen years. or upward, even though such records or the certification thereof shall not conform to the requirements specified in section one hundred of this act, shall be admissible in evidence of the facts they contain in any court of record in this State. Approved May 11, 1915. [No. 197.] AN ACT to amend section forty-five of chapter sixty-five of the Revised Statutes of eighteen hundred forty-six, entitled "Of alienation by deed and the proof and recording of conveyances, and the cancellation of mortgages," as last amended by act number eighty-two of the Public Acts of eighteen hundred ninety-three, and being section nine thou sand eleven of the Compiled Laws of eighteen hundred ninety-seven. The People of the State of Michigan enact: SECTION 1. Section forty-five of chapter sixty-five of the Section Revised Statutes of eighteen hundred forty-six, entitled "Of amended. alienation by deed and the proof and recording of conveyances and the cancellation of mortgages," as last amended by act number eighty-two of the Public Acts of eighteen hundred ninety-three, and being section nine thousand eleven of the Compiled Laws of eighteen hundred ninety-seven, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: SEC. 45. When a recorded mortgage on lands or property When suit has been paid and satisfied, or when fifteen years have elapsed may be begun to discharge since the debt secured by such mortgage became due and pay- mortgage. able, or since the last payment made thereon, and no suit or proceedings have been commenced to collect the same, the owner of such land or property may present a petition to the circuit court in chancery for the county in which such land or property so incumbered is wholly or in part situated, duly verified by the oath of the petitioner, or by some one in his behalf, which shall state the name of the mortgagor and mortgagee, the date of the mortgage, and the liber and page of the record thereof, the facts in regard to payment of the debt thereby secured, or the non-commencement of such suit or proceeding within said fifteen years; and further that the present residence or whereabouts of the mortgagee, or his assignee, if the mortgage shall have been assigned, is unknown to the petitioner, and that the petitioner has been unable to ascertain the same after diligent search and inquiry; Hearing. Order and decree. Record of order. or if such be the fact, that the mortgagee or assignee is deceased, and that three months have elapsed since his death, and that the names and residences of the legal representatives, if any there are, of the mortgagee or assignee are unknown to the petitioner, and that he has been unable to ascertain the same after diligent search and inquiry; or when such mortgagee is a trustee merely and without interest therein, that he does not reside in the State of Michigan or is dead; and such petition shall conclude with a prayer that an order and decree of the court may be made discharging said mortgage and declaring it fully paid and satisfied. Upon the presentation of such petition, said court may proceed to hear and determine the truth of the matters therein stated, and if it shall be made satisfactorily to appear to the court, either by the production in evidence of the original mortgage or of the bond, or bonds or promissory notes, to secure the payment of which such mortgage was given, or by any other competent evidence, that the debt secured by such mortgage has been fully paid, both principal and interest thereof; or if it shall be made to appear to the court by competent evidence that said mortgage debt has been past due for fifteen years, or that fifteen years have elapsed since the last payment was made on such debt, and that no suit or proceeding has been commenced to foreclose such mortgage, the court shall make an order and decree to that effect, setting forth therein the facts established by the proofs submitted. A copy of such order and decree duly certified by the register of said court may be recorded in the office of the register of deeds for the county or counties in which such mortgage shall be of record, in like manner and with like effect in all respects as if it were a formal discharge of said mortgage duly executed by the mortgagee. Approved May 11, 1915. [No. 198.] AN ACT to amend sections two and thirteen of act number one hundred eighty-eight of the Public Acts of eighteen hundred ninety-nine, entitled "An act to provide for the taxation of inheritances, transfers of property by will, transfers of property by the intestate laws of this State, or transfers of property by deed, grant, bargain, sale or gift, made in contemplation of the death of the grantor, vendor, or donor, or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after such death," as amended by act number one hundred ninety-five of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred three and act number thirty of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred thirteen. The People of the State of Michigan enact: SECTION 1. Sections two and thirteen of act number one Sections amended. hundred eighty-eight of the Public Acts of eighteen hundred ninety-nine, entitled "An act to provide for the taxation of inheritances, transfers of property by will, transfers of property by the intestate laws of this State, or transfers of property by deed, grant, bargain, sale or gift, made in contemplation of the death of the grantor, vendor, or donor, or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after such death," as amended by act number one hundred ninetyfive of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred three and act number thirty of the Public Acts of nineteen hundred thirteen, are hereby amended to read as follows: transfers SEC. 2. When the property or any beneficial interest therein Certain passes by any such transfer to or for the use of one or more exempt. of the following named persons: Grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, husband, wife, child, brother, sister, wife or widow of a son, or the husband of a daughter, or to or for the use of any child or children adopted as such in conformity with the laws of this State or any other state or country, of the decedent, grantor, donor or vendor, or to or for the use of any persons to whom any such decedent, grantor, donor or vendor, stood in the mutually acknowledged relation of a parent: Provided, however, That such re- Proviso, lationship began at or before the child's seventeenth birthday relationship. and continued until the death of such decedent, grantor, donor or vendor, or to or for the use of any lineal descendant of such decedent, grantor, donor or vendor, such transfer of property shall not be taxable under this act, unless it is personal property of the clear market value of two thousand dollars or over, and when the transfer is to wife, such transfer of property shall not be taxable, unless it is personal property of the clear market value of five thousand dollars or over, in which case the entire transfer shall be taxed under this act at the rate of one per child's Exemptions, how applied. When deductions not made. Cash value of estates. Itemized statement may be required. Payment in gross. Insurance commissioner to determine value. cent upon the clear market value thereof. The exemptions of sections one and two of this act shall apply and be granted to each beneficiary's interest therein, and not to the entire estate of a decedent. No deductions or exemptions from such tax shall be made for any allowance granted by the order of any court for the maintenance and support of the widow or family of a decedent pending the administration of the estate, when there is income from such estate accruing after death, which is available to pay such allowance, or for a longer period than one year, or for a greater amount than is actually used and expended for the maintenance and support of such widow or family for one year. SEC. 13. The report of the appraiser shall be filed in the office of the judge of probate, and from such report and other proof relating to any such estate before the judge of probate, the judge of probate shall forthwith, as of course, determine the clear market value of all such estates as of the date of transfer, and the amount of tax to which the same is liable, or the judge of probate may so determine the clear market value of all such estates and the amount of tax to which the same are liable without appointing an appraiser. The judge of probate may, and shall on application of the Attorney General or Auditor General, require the executor, administrator or trustee of any estate to file with him an itemized statement or petition containing itemized statement, under oath, of the personal property and real property within his knowledge or possession or under his control as such executor, administrator or trustee, which statement shall indicate the date from which interest and dividends were due and unpaid upon each item of the personal estate, together with the rate of such interest and also of the amount and character of any incumbrances upon such real estate at the time of the death of said deceased, and other data, such as debts, expenses of administration and other charges which constitute proper deductions in reaching a taxable remainder under the provisions of this act. The judge of probate before determination of the tax upon the estate of decedent as a whole is made, may determine the tax upon any specific legacy or devise, or upon the real estate of a decedent, and may authorize and direct any executor or administrator to pay to the county treasurer a sum in gross on account of the inheritance tax due from the estate when by reason of claims made against the estate, litigation or other unavoidable cause of delay, the tax cannot be determined by the court within eighteen months from its accrual; but the five per centum discount provided in section four of this act shall not be allowed upon this gross sum. The judge of probate in the order determining the tax upon such estate shall state the amount authorized to be paid in gross as above provided and the date of such order. The Commissioner of Insurance shall, on the application of any judge of probate, or the Auditor General, determine the value of any such future or contingent estate, income or interest |