Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Restructuring Federal Estate And Gift Taxes: Impact Of Proposed Reforms On Estate Planning, Verner F. Chaffin

Michigan Law Review

It is undeniable that estate and gift taxes, in contrast to income taxes, have not received the legislative attention that they deserve. Congress has largely ignored these important segments of our tax structure for many years, and during that time a host of defects and inequities have become apparent. This congressional indifference in the estate and gift tax field can be attributed to the fact that these taxes, unlike the income tax, affect relatively few people, and that they produce less than two per cent of our total tax revenue. It is understandable, therefore, that while the major thrust of …

Estate Tax-The Failure Of I.R.C. Section 2039 To Reach Death Benefits Arising Out Of The Employment Relationship-Estate Of Fusz, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Decedent's employment contract provided for a salary payable to him and monthly payments to his widow for life if he died during the term of the contract. No post-retirement benefits were payable to decedent under the contract or pursuant to any other agreement with the employer. After decedent's death during the term of the contract the payments to his widow commenced; their commuted value, however, was not included in the gross estate of decedent. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, ruling that the payments to the widow constituted an annuity, the commuted value of which was includable in decendent's gross estate …

Estate Tax-"Disallowance Of Double Deductions" In I.R.C. Section 642 (G) Applies Only To "Statutory Deductions"-Estate Of Bray, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners, as executors for a substantial estate, had to sell a large amount of securities in order to pay administration expenses incurred by the estate. The estate received $2,250,000 from this sale, which was $50,000 in excess of the value of the stock at the time of decedent's death and thus as reported on the estate tax return. The brokerage commissions and taxes on the sale, which totaled $23,000, were deducted from the value of the gross estate as administration expenses pursuant to section 2053(a)(2) of the 1954 Internal Revenue Code. The same $23,000 was also subtracted from the $50,000 …

Review Of Michigan And Federal Estate And Tax Planning, By P. Chirco And S. Ward, Douglas A. Kahn

Reviews

Any evaluation of a book of this nature must be made in light of its purpose and its intended audience. The authors recognize that estate and tax planning is too broad a subject to be treated comprehensively in a single volume, and, consequently, they quite properly made no effort in that direction. Rather, their apparent purpose was to furnish the non-specialist with an annotated form book containing textual discussions of tax and estate planning problems, with particular emphasis on local Michigan law.

Abstracts Fo Recent Cases, Ellen Fairfax Warder

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Joint Tenancy: The Estate Lawyer's Continuing Burden, John E. Riecker

Michigan Law Review

The discussion which follows will be divided into three major parts. First, it will be important to see why so much real and personal property remains in joint tenancy between husband and wife or in entireties tenancy. It has been almost eighteen years since Congress eliminated the necessity of holding property in this form in order to split income therefrom for income tax purposes. Is inertia the only reason for the popularity of joint ownership, or are there other reasons? Second, we shall review the familiar but false assumptions most laymen (and even a few attorneys) commonly make regarding the …

Federal Estate Tax Burden Borne By A Dissenting Widow, Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

Renunciation of her deceased husband's will entitles a widow to a specified percentage of the husband's net estate (or a dower interest) in lieu of any benefits she would otherwise have received under the will. The size of the dissenting widow's share differs among the several states, but the normal range is from one third to one half of her husband's net estate. In some jurisdictions the widow's share is determined, in whole or in part, according to the portion to which she would be entitled if her husband had died intestate, but in these jurisdictions the widow's share generally …

Estate Taxation Of Charitable Remainders Subject To Powers Of Diversion, Garrett Power

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Maryland Death Taxes, Charles G. Page

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 …

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.

Estate Tax Deduction For An Entire Trust Containing Charitable Bequest With A Possible Diversion Of Trust Income - Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co. V. U.S., Julian I. Jacobs

Maryland Law Review

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 …

Death And Taxes - Maryland Style, H. Vernon Eney

Maryland 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 …

Estate Liquidity And The Family-Owned Business, William J. Bowe

Vanderbilt Law Review

Every community in the country has its quota of successful merchants, manufacturers and businessmen whose enterprises have, as a result of management or planning, grown and prospered over the years. To value the worth of such businesses for estate tax purposes is perhaps the most difficult fact-issue in the whole field of taxation. Indeed it is doubtful if there is any problem in law or economics where the criteria are so vague and uncertain and where the permissible range for honest differences of judgment is so great. Expert opinion may vary by more than 100%.

State Legislative Apportionment Of The Federal Estate Tax, Martin Alan Mitnick

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.