Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Abstracts Of Recent Cases, Ward Day Stone Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

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, …

Taxation-Federal Estate Tax-Tax Consequences Of A Gift In Contemplation Of Death By A Joint Tenant Or A Tenant By The Entirety, Fredric L. Smith S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

This comment will examine the foregoing problem in light of several recent cases which have cast doubt on the presently conceived relationship between section 2035 and section 2040.

Inequities In Corporate Payments To Widows

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taxation-Federal Estate Tax-Application Of Section 2039 To Benefits Paid To Survivor Under A Deferred Compensation Plan, T. K. Carroll

Michigan Law Review

Upon decedent's death, his former employer made certain payments to the surviving widow under two voluntarily established benefit plans which were unfunded and non-qualified. The first of these arrangements, the death benefit plan, provided for three months' salary to be paid to an employee's widow, if the employee died before becoming eligible for retirement. The second, the deferred compensation plan, provided payment of a certain stated maximum to an employee's widow in sixty equal monthly installments. This was not a retirement program, however, since the employee himself would receive these payments if, and only if, he were ever to become …

Tax Planning Of The Administration Of An Estate, Sherwin P. Simmons

Vanderbilt Law Review

In this article, the author points out that the tax hazards and tax saving opportunities presented in the administration of an estate cannot be disregarded. With this in mind, he discusses in detail the filing of a decedents final income tax return, the various elections and alternatives available to the executor in the tax planning of the estate, the tax consequences flowing from the executors management of the estate, and the problems encountered in terminating the estate and paying the tax.

Taxation-Federal Estate Tax-The Construction Of Section 2036, William S. Bach S .Ed.

Michigan Law Review

This comment will explore two problems: first, an analysis of the legislative history of the present section 2036 in an effort to discover exactly which property relationships Congress intended to reach by this provision; second, an examination of the treatment which several specific arrangements have been given by the courts to determine whether there is any degree of certainty or predictability in the application of section 2036.

Taxation-Federal Estate Tax-Inference Of Retained Life Interest Under Section 2036(A), Donald E. Vacin

Michigan Law Review

In 1936 decedent established an irrevocable trust naming herself and relatives as beneficiaries. The corporate trustees were directed to pay the trust income, in the exercise of their absolute discretion, either to the settlor or to the other beneficiaries. In filing her 1936 federal gift tax return settlor attempted unsuccessfully to exclude the value of a life estate in the trust income, allegedly retained by her. At her death, the value of the trust corpus was not included in her estate tax return. The Commissioner assessed a deficiency contending that decedent-settlor had retained for her life the "possession or enjoyment" …

Estate Planning - Marital Deduction - Formula Gifts, Gerald P. Lally

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

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 …

Tax Aspects Of Contributions To Employees' Trust Funds

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taxation Of Life Tenants As Trustees

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, Arno C. Becht, Charles L. B. Lowndes, Jan Z. Krasnowiecki, J. Allen Smith, Earl Phillips, Charles J. Meyers, Kenneth S. Carlston

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Incidence Of Tax Determined By Testamentary Directive, Robert A. Smith

Michigan Law Review

An inter vivas trust created by testator and property held jointly with his wife were included in his gross estate in computing the federal estate tax.1Testator left his residuary estate to charity and directed in his will that the estate tax on the above inter vivas transfers be borne by the property so transferred. The government determined that the estate tax was payable out of the residue and reduced the charitable deduction by the amount of the estate tax attributable to the inter vivas transfers pursuant to section 812(d) of the 1939 Internal Revenue Code. The district court granted the …

Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Insurance And Annuity Combinations, John B. Schwemm S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Decedent, aged seventy-six, invested in three single premium life insurance policies. Issuance of each was conditioned on the purchase of a single life, nonrefundable annuity of specified value, and no physical examination was required. Each combination was balanced so that the total premium, exclusive of loading charges, equalled the face value of the insurance. The resulting correlation between compound interest and annuity disbursements made the guaranteed payments to the annuitant correspond precisely with the expected income of a reinvestment of the entire deposit by the insurer. Decedent retained the annuity rights, but all present and future interests in the life …

Tax Management Of Estates And Trusts, By Practising Law Institute, Merle H. Miller

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Applicability Of State Inheritance Tax Statutes To United States Savings Bonds, M. J. P.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transfers Of Joint Property In Contemplation Of Death: A Call For Immediate Statutory Revision, L. Hart Wright

Michigan Law Review

For years the Tax Court sided with the government and the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in asserting that the contemplation-of-death provision of the estate tax act was sufficiently elastic to include the tax concept of ownership reflected in the joint-property provision of the same act. The alliance between those tribunals on this point was recently broken, however, when the Tax Court shifted to the competing view supported by taxpayers and the appellate court for the Ninth Circuit. It now believes that the two provisions mentioned above are complete strangers even though at one time these two were …

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 …

Taxation - Inheritance Tax - Transfers Subject To Take Effect At Or After Death, Harvey A. Howard S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Decedent was a participant in a company profit-sharing savings and retirement trust. Under the terms of the plan, the company made deposits with a trustee on an annual basis and relinquished the right to recapture or impair the fund for its own use or benefit. The contributions were to be held for ten years with accrued interest, and then were to be distributed to the employees in three annual instalments. Should an employee leave the company, he was entitled to his share in three instalments; in the event of retirement or illness he was to receive his entire share in …

Taxation - Federal Income Taxation - Problems Created By The Complex Trust Provisions Of The 1954 Code, Harvey A. Howard S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

This comment will not be expository of all of the trust provisions but rather will attempt to deal with some of the more important interpretative difficulties likely to be encountered in the new law involving the taxation of the income of those trusts which may accumulate income, distribute corpus, or pay or set aside amounts for charitable purposes. It will be assumed that the reader is familiar with the basic statutory pattern of the trust sections of the new code.

Book Note, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Note

Tax Planning for Estates (1955 Revision)

By William J. Bowe

Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1955. Pp. 98. $3.00

The Non-General Power Of Appointment -- A Creature Of The Powers Of Appointment Act Of 1951, Allan Mccoid

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the course of the past fifty years, during which estate planning has become a specialty rather than one of many jobs handled by the general practitioner, the power of appointment has become an increasingly popular form of gift. The two great advantages which have been claimed for the power are the introduction of great flexibility into the estate plan and the reduction of the tax burden on the property as it passes from one generation to another. It was presumably with both of these objectives in mind that Professor William J. Bowe made a suggestion last year as to …

Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The information given in the notes is derived from inspection of the books, publishers' literature, and the ordinary library sources.

Apportionment Of The Federal State Tax In The Absence Of Statute Or An Expression Of Intention, William P. Sutter

Michigan Law Review

Federal law now provides in sections 826 (c) and (d) of the Internal Revenue Code that life insurance and property transferred by appointment shall bear their proportionate tax burden. It does not contain similar provisions with respect to other types of non-probate property. At the present time, twenty states provide by statute for some sort of apportionment of estate taxes. Two states have statutes restricting apportionment in some degree. In the rest, the matter rests in the discretion of the courts. I propose to discuss in this article the situation in those areas where no statutory guidance exists.

Tax Planning For Nontaxable Estates, William J. Bowe

Vanderbilt Law Review

Owners of modest estates are always greatly relieved to learn of the liberal federal estate tax exemption of $60,000. Freed from the burden of federal estate tax planning they frequently turn their attention to methods of transferring property which will avoid the heavy cost and delay incident to probate administration. Joint ownership, gifts of remainder interests, donee-beneficiary contracts, revocable trusts are among the more common devices available. Use of any one of these plans may accomplish a shift in possession and enjoyment of property upon the death of the planner with no delay and minimum expense.

But the income tax …

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Deductibility Of Contributions To Profit-Sharing Trusts, W. H. Bates S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff corporation set up a profit sharing trust for the benefit of its employees as authorized under section 165(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. The plan for the trust, as approved by the Treasury, provided that plaintiff should contribute annually an amount equal to 15 % of net income, as defined, not to exceed 15% of basic salary or wages of all eligible participating employees. For the tax year 1944 plaintiff claimed deductions under section 23(p)(1)(C) for an amount equal to 15% of the total participating payroll, which is actually the allowable maximum, but which in this case exceeded 15% …

Book Reviews, W. Barton Leach, Joe Tussman, Charles O. Gregory, Charles Fahy, John C. O'Byrne Jr., Joseph Curtis, Charles Fairman, Ralph R. Neuhoff, Joseph Hawley Murphy, Charles L. Black Jr., Roscoe L. Barrow, John Hanna

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Gifts For The Benefit Of Minors, Austin Fleming

Michigan Law Review

Primarily because of tax incentives, lifetime gifts have become increasingly popular in recent years among persons of wealth. Until the Revenue Act of 1948, such gifts were frequently made between spouses. But the tax advantages of interspousal gifts were greatly lessened by the split-income privilege and the marital deduction, and a new inducement was given to gifts to third persons by the establishment of the right to treat such gifts as being one half from each spouse. As a result, gifts to children and grandchildren have taken on new prominence.

Transfers Intended To Take Effect At Or After Death

Indiana Law Journal

Recent Cases: Taxation