Law Commons^™

Book Notes, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Tax Planning for Husbands and Wives under the Revenue Act of 1948 Chicago: Commerce Clearing House, Inc., 1948. Pp. 96. $1.00

This booklet has four main divisions: (1) Income Taxes, (2) Estate Planning under 1948 Act, (3) Estate and Gift Tax Tables (including a summary of state death tax rates and exemptions), and (4) Explanation of 1948 Estate and Gift Tax Changes. It contains the usual explanations as to the effect of the marital deduction and valuable suggestions as to the circumstances under which the deduction should be advantageously used, but the greatest merit of the booklet lies in its …

Will Renunciation Of A Bequest Or Failure To Claim A Statutory Share Constitute A Taxable Gift?, Daniel D. Canale, Robert E. Cooper

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1948 the 80th Congress amended the Internal Revenue Code in an effort to eliminate the discrimination theretofore enjoyed by residents of states which had adopted the community property system.' Substantial equalization in the estate and gift tax fields is expected to follow from the marital deduction and "gift tax splitting" privileges. Moreover, these changes have focused attention upon a problem which caused considerable concern to conservative tax advisors even before the 1948 Tax Amendment. It has long been a doubtful question whether the renunciation of testamentary benefits would be held to constitute a taxable gift. The Act and the …

Editorial Board, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Mayo A. Shattuck

Vanderbilt Law Review

In order to get a proper measure of modern Estate Planning I think it may be useful to consider, very briefly, some aspects of its history. The family trust was born into our jurisprudence in an environment which had been moulded in that solid and immovable pyramid called feudalism. In that social order there was nothing of imaginative elasticity. Lateral allegiances or entanglements were as little known as lateral movements. All lines of authority moved from the top; all discharges of duties were rendered vertically to the liege lord next above. As with human relationships so also with property. The …

Recent Cases, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

No abstract provided.

Life Insurance, The Forbidden Fruit, William J. Rowe

Vanderbilt Law Review

Until recently life insurance has represented the most impenetrable stronghold of the professional tax avoider and his advisors. As a vehicle for the transmission of wealth to future generations with minimum tax levies, it stood unrivaled. During a policyholder's life the value of his policy for gift tax purposes was and is measured by replacement cost.' Under applicable regulations during the thirties, when insurance was transferred by way of inter vivos gift the tremendous increase in value of the policy that came with death escaped gift tax, income tax, and estate tax. But since 1941 the situation has been reversed …

Book Reviews, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Planner's Primer, William M. Reynolds

Vanderbilt Law Review

Anyone undertaking an assignment to write within a few pages under this comprehensive title must limit his coverage. This general article on a subject as intangible as estate planning omits entirely or gives short treatment to many considerations which may be of great importance to the conscientious planning of relatively complicated estate situations., Emphasis will be placed on the tax aspects of estate planning, particularly federal taxes, but consideration will be given to other aspects which may be of equal or even greater importance. This deliberate emphasis is certainly not intended to add to the misleading impression, too frequently held, …

A Planner's Primer, William M. Reynolds

Vanderbilt Law Review

Anyone undertaking an assignment to write within a few pages under this comprehensive title must limit his coverage. This general article on a subject as intangible as estate planning omits entirely or gives short treatment to many considerations which may be of great importance to the conscientious planning of relatively complicated estate situations. Emphasis will be placed on the tax aspects of estate planning, particularly federal taxes, but consideration will be given to other aspects which may be of equal or even greater importance. This deliberate emphasis is certainly not intended to add to the misleading impression, too frequently held, …

Transfers In Contemplation Of Death, Edward N. Polisher

Vanderbilt Law Review

The scope of this article is limited to the discussion of transfers prompted by motives associated with life and moral obligations; transfers made simultaneously with the execution of a will, or as a part of a plan of testamentary disposition; transfers of life insurance policies; and lastly, valuation of such transfers.

Life Insurance, The Forbidden Fruit, William J. Bowe

Vanderbilt Law Review

Until recently life insurance has represented the most impenetrable stronghold of the professional tax avoider and his advisors. As a vehicle for the transmission of wealth to future generations with minimum tax levies, it stood unrivaled. During a policyholder's life the value of his policy for gift tax purposes was and is measured by replacement cost.' Under applicable regulations during the thirties, when insurance was transferred by way of inter vivos gift the tremendous increase in value of the policy that came with death escaped gift tax, income tax, and estate tax. But since 1941 the situation has been reversed …

Family Partnership V. Corporation -- Income Tax Aspects, Bruce Mcclain

Vanderbilt Law Review

At the outset, it must be emphasized that a decision as to the more desirable mode of doing business should never be based solely upon tax considerations. In every instance, the following legal and practical advantages of transacting business as a corporation must always be borne in mind: (1) Limited Liability. The liability of a stockholder for the debts of the corporation is limited to his investment in its stock, while all of the property bf a general partner is subject to the claims of the firm's creditors, if its assets are insufficient to satisfy such claims in full. (2) …

Valuation Of The Family Controlled Business For Estate Tax Purposes, James O. Wynn

Vanderbilt Law Review

The starting point in the determination of the federal estate tax is the valuation of the property included in the gross estate.' While the Internal Revenue Code does not use the term "fair market value" in defining the gross estate, the regulations promulgated by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue as an interpretation of the estate tax provisions of the Code provide that "the value of every item of property includible in the gross estate is the fair market value thereof." While a creditable argument could be made that Congress, in using the term "value" in defining the gross estate, intended …

Some Aspects Of Estate Planning In Tennessee, Alec B. Stevenson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Not many years ago a large New York bank circulated privately booklet with the provocative title "The Passing of the Simple Will." The choice of the title and the text itself underlined the complexities which surround the owner of property and his advisers when they jointly attempt to plan the disposition of a modern estate for modem needs. The now almost legendary owner of Blackacre could, indeed, write a simple will, quite effective and satisfactory as a plan for the disposition 'and use of the family property. One need scarcely recite the changes which have taken place in more recent …

Tennessee Death Taxes, Charles K. Cosner

Vanderbilt Law Review

The leading articles in this symposium stress the problems which federal death duties create in the planning of estates. The purpose of this note is to discuss the Tennessee Inheritance Tax,' and to indicate how its treatment of particular types of property and forms of ownership differs from the federal succession tax.

The federal tax poses no problem to the Tennessean of moderate means in planning his estate. By some elementary advance planning, all but very substantial estates may be made free of federal tax. In no event will an estate be subject to federal tax which is valued at …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Assault and Battery--Injury Sustained in Prize Fig

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Constitutional Law--Elections--Voting Rights of Residents of Federal Enclave where Polling Places are on Land under Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction

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Constitutional Law--Miscegenation Statutes--Statutory Prohibitions against Inter-Racial Marriages held Unconstitutional

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Criminal Law--Evidence--Admissibility of Sound Motion Pictures of Re-Enactment of Crime by Defendants

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Criminal Procedure--Use of Jury Primer Prior to Trial

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Estate Planning--Mistake as to Tax Consequences of a Gift--Requirements for Rescission

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Evidence--Impeachment of Witnesses--Warning Question on Examination as to Prior Testimony

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Interstate Commerce--Sherman Act--Applicability to Organized Baseball

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Labor Law--Constitutional Law--Validity of Prohibition on Contributions and Expenditures of Labor …

Book Reviews, Philip A. Hendrick Reviewer, Charles L.B. Lowndes (Reviewer), Adrian W. Dewind (Reviewer), Chas. A. Morehead (Reviewer), John R. Stivers (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

An Estate Planner's Handbook By Mayo Adams Shattuck

Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1948. Pp. 575. $7.50

reviewer: Philip A. Hendrick

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Estate Planning and Estate Tax Saving By Edward N. Polisher

Philadelphia: George T. Bisel Company. Second Edition, 1948. 2 Volumes. Pp. xxxii, 923. $20.00

reviewer: Charles L.B. Lowndes

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Federal Taxes--Corporations and Partnerships, 1948-49 By Robert H. Montgomery, Conrad B. Taylor and Mark E. Richardson

Vol. I: Gross Income and Deductions Vol. II: Taxes, Returns and Administration New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1948. Pp. xiii, 1001; pp. iv, 881. $20.00

Federal Taxes--Estates, Trusts and Gifts, 1948-49

By …