Law Commons^™

Kite: Irs Wins Qtip Battle But Loses Annuity War, Kerry A. Ryan

All Faculty Scholarship

In Kite, the Tax Court held that a 10-year deferred annuity constituted adequate and full consideration for a transfer of family partnership interests, even though the transferor died before receiving any payments. The court also held that the liquidation of a qualified terminable interest property trust and subsequent sale of its assets constituted a disposition of the qualifying income interest for life, resulting in a deemed transfer of the entire trust under section 2519. Ryan discusses those holdings and two more issues that were not raised in the Tax Court proceeding but are clearly implicated by the Kite facts.

Morgens: More Qtip Mischief, Wendy G. Gerzog

All Faculty Scholarship

In Morgens, the court ruled in favor of the government that section 2035(b) applied to the gift taxes paid by the qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust beneficiaries to gross up the widow’s estate by that amount. Because the surviving (or donee) spouse must be taxed on the underlying property over which she has no ownership rights, Congress enacted section 2207A to allow the second spouse to recover from the beneficiaries of the property the transfer taxes relating to her gift or estate inclusion. However, the court held that section 2207A did not shift the gift tax liability to those …

Flp In The Black, Wendy G. Gerzog

All Faculty Scholarship

In Estate of Black, because the Tax Court held the Blacks' transfers fell within the bona fide sales exception of section 2036, they were successful at avoiding the application of the provision. Thus, they were able to obtain valuation discounts for their transfers of property (mostly marketable securities) to their son and grandchildren. The court also decided the marital trust funding valuation date issue in the executor's favor and allowed almost half of the claimed administrative expense deductions.

The Estate Tax Marital Deduction, Harold Dubroff, Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

The estate tax marital deduction, section 2056 of the Internal Revenue Code, was enacted in 1948, along with the split-income provisions of the income tax law and the marital deduction and split-gift provisions of the gift tax law. The purpose was to give married residents of common law states approximately the same federal tax advantages that were available to married residents of community property states. Ordinarily, upon the death of a married resident of a community property state, only one-half of the community property is taxed in the decedent's estate. Section 2056 achieves approximately the same result for married residents …

The Optimum Marital Deduction Survives The Tax Reform Act, J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

Several years ago an article appeared in the pages of this journal which suggested that those attorneys who regularly focused on obtaining the maximum marital deduction in the wills they were drafting for their clients might be suffering from a form of estate planner's myopia. That is, they were losing sight of their ultimate goal of minimizing the total estate tax burden imposed on the husband's assets as they pass from him, through the wife, on to the ultimate beneficiaries. The danger foreseen was that, as an attorney employed one of the various formula clauses designed to obtain every possible …

An Attack On The Optimum Marital Deduction: Revenue Ruling 76-176, J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

A recent development in the field of estate and gift taxation-the issuance of Revenue Ruling 76-156 may be an indication of a policy decision on the part of the Internal Revenue Service to clamp down on the increasing utilization of the estate planner's most flexible tool in the ·area of post-mortem estate planning-the disclaimer. Due to the potential importance of this ruling, it seems desirable ( 1 ) to deal with the ruling, itself, in some detail, ( 2) to see how the ruling might affect an estate planning concept suggested in these pages last year, and ( 3) to …

Drafting For The Optimum Marital Deduction, J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

While the marital deduction provided for by federal estate tax law may not necessarily be the controlling factor in planning the will of a married person, it is certainly one of the most important factors because of the sheer magnitude of this deduction up to 50% of the adjusted gross estate. A direct consequence of this importance is reflected in the fact that the marital deduction has become the most written-about topic in the estate planning area. Most of what has been written about this subject can be divided into the two following categories: ( 1 ) an explanation of …

A Single-Trust Marital Deduction Will, J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

This article will offer a basic form that can be easily altered to respond to the needs of many clients who have a moderate estate and wish to take advantage of the estate tax marital deduction. For purposes of discussion, it will be assumed that the estate is $250,000 or less and that the client has expressed the following: "I want my wife to have all of the income from my property throughout her life and then the property should pass to my children. In the event that the income from my property is insufficient to meet my wife's needs, …

Simplifying The Martial Deduction Will, J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

One of the basic tenets of estate planning declares that there is no such thing as a typical estate and therefore there can be no such thing as a typical estate plan. Emphasis is placed on the unique character of each case and the positive need to tailor the plan to fit the client's total situation. Accepting the validity of the foregoing, however, does not mean that one must start from scratch in each case. Instead, the attorney who is trying to pare repetitious work to a safe minimum might develop a solution to the problem by having a series …

Widows' Allowances And Marital Deductions-The Date-Of-Death Rule, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In every state there are statutes that provide for widows' allowances in an attempt to assure adequate support for widows during the time it takes to settle their husbands' estates. A common feature in most of these state support statutes is that the local probate judge is permitted to order an amount which the court finds to be reasonably necessary for the maintenance of the widow during the period of settlement to be set aside for her from the rest of the estate. The maximum amount permitted, the method of payment, the duration of the allowance, the extent to which …

Legislation, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Estate Tax--Marital Deduction--Compliance With Revenue Procedure 64-19

In those cases where an executor or trustee is directed by the governing instrument to satisfy a pecuniary bequest or transfer in trust by a distribution of the property in kind,' with assets at values as finally determined for federal estate tax purposes, there is the possibility that the surviving spouse will receive property the fair market value of which at the time of distribution is less than the amount of the marital deduction.

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Voting Rights--Residence Requirements for Voting in Presidential Elections

It seems safe to conclude that the choosing of presidential …

Federal Estate Tax-Determination Of Marital Deduction In Community Property State When Surviving Spouse Elects To Take Under Decedent's Will, Jon E. Denney

Michigan Law Review

Decedent, a Texas resident, provided that if his wife elected to take under his will she would receive one-third of the total community property and one-third of his separate estate. The remaining two-thirds of decedent's total estate was devised in trust for the benefit of his children. The widow elected to take under the will, thereby allowing her interest in the community property to pass as provided in the will. The executors claimed a marital deduction for the one-third separate property passing to the widow. Since she received less under the will than the value of her relinquished community property, …

Federal Estate Tax - Marital Deduction - Annuity For Life With Guaranteed Certain Payments Not Divided Into Two Properties By Insurer's Accounting Treatment, William S. Bach

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, executor of decedent's estate, brought suit to recover an overpayment of federal estate tax. Decedent had purchased a life insurance policy and had elected an option under which proceeds would be paid to his wife in monthly payments for her life; however, the option also guaranteed a minimum of 240 payments. In the event the wife died before 240 payments were made, payments were to continue to decedent's daughter, or on the death of both wife and daughter, the commuted value of the remaining guaranteed payments would be paid in lump sum to the estate of the survivor. The …

The Martial Deduction And Equalization Under The Federal Estate And Gift Taxes Between Common Law And Community Property States, Paul E. Anderson

Michigan Law Review

In 1948, as the culmination of much dissatisfaction with the treatment of community property under the federal estate and gift tax laws, Congress adopted a new formula for the treatment of gifts and bequests between spouses; this formula was known as the marital deduction. It has remained practically unchanged since its adoption and still stands as an integral part of our federal estate and gift tax structure.

The basic purpose of the deduction was to provide equalization in estate and gift tax treatment between spouses residing in community property states and those residing in common law property states. The plan …