Bergan v. Commissioner

1 T.C. 543, 1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 241
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedFebruary 9, 1943
DocketDocket Nos. 107412, 107420
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 1 T.C. 543 (Bergan v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bergan v. Commissioner, 1 T.C. 543, 1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 241 (tax 1943).

Opinion

OPINION.

Black, Judge:

The questions involved have been previously stated. We will first consider the question whether any part of Miss Bergan’s share of Mrs. Johnson’s estate in excess of the $50,000 block of bonds should be included in Miss Bergan’s gross estate as representing a transfer in contemplation of, or as taking effect at death. Although the respondent in his deficiency notice determined that “The value of the property, transferred by the decedent, prior to death, is included in the gross estate under the provisions of Section 302 (c) and (d) of the Revenue Act of 1926, as amended,” that statute was not in effect on the date of Miss Bergan’s death, her death having occurred after February 10, 1939. The statute then in effect was the Internal Revenue Code. See secs. 3, 4, and 800, I. R. C. Corresponding to the provisions of the statute cited in the deficiency notice are subsections (c) and (d) of section 811 of the Internal Revenue Code. In his brief the respondent now cites as .the applicable statute section 811 (c)1 and makes no contention that section 811 (d) has any application.

A prerequisite to the consideration of any question arising under section 811 (c) is that at some time during her life the decedent must have made a “transfer.” If the property sought to be included in the decedent’s gross estate under section 811 (c) was never at any time transferred by the decedent, that section would have no application to such property.

In the instant proceedings the property in question is the decedent’s share of Mrs. Johnson’s estate in excess of the $50,000 block of bonds. Petitioner primarily contends as to this property that Miss Bergan never at any time made a transfer; that she had renounced her rights as distributee; and that upon the authority of Brown v. Routzahn, 63 Fed. (2d) 914; In re Wolfe’s Estate, 89 App. Div. 349; 85 N. Y. S. 949; affirmed per curiam, 72 N. E. 1152; and In re Clarkson’s Estate, 137 Misc. Rep. 741; 244 N. Y. S. 470, no part of such property may be included in Miss Bergan’s gross estate. As a first alternative, petitioner contends that if the direct transfer from Mrs. Johnson’s estate to Mrs. Goggin be held in effect to be a transfer from Miss Bergan to Mrs. Goggin, such constructive transfer was not one in contemplation of death or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after death. As a second alternative, petitioner contends that the constructive transfer wrould come within the exception mentioned in section 811 (c), namely, “except in case of a bona fide sale for an adequate and full consideration in money or money’s worth,” and for that reason would not be subject to the estate tax. Finally, and as a third alternative, petitioner contends that, if all of the previous contentions are denied, there was at least a substantial consideration received by Miss Bergan and that proper effect should be given thereto under section 811 (i) of the Internal Revenue Code.2 It should be pointed out here that section 811 (i) of the Internal Revenue Code has no application unless we hold that the transfer was made in contemplation of death or was intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after death. For reasons stated later on, we hold that the transfer was not so made.

The respondent contends that as a matter of law Miss Bergan could not accept a part of her share of Mrs. Johnson’s estate and renounce the balance; that she either had to accept all or renounce all; that since unquestionably she did accept the $50,000 block of bonds, it must be held that she accepted her entire share; that, having accepted her entire share, she transferred that share in excess of the $50,000 block of bonds to Mrs. Goggin in consideration for Mrs. Goggin’s promise to support Miss Bergan for the remainder of Miss Bergan’s life; and that petitioner has failed to prove the facts necessary to bring her within the exception mentioned in section 811 (c). The respondent further contends that in substance the alleged transfer by Miss Ber-gan of her share of Mrs. Johnson’s estate in excess of the $50,000 block of bonds was a testamentary disposition; that in substance the same result was achieved as if Miss Bergan had transferred the property in question in trust, reserving the income therefrom for life with the provision that upon her death the trust would cease and the corpus be distributed to Mrs. Goggin; that section 811 (c) is clearly applicable; and that in principle the instant estate tax proceeding is not distinguishable from Tips v. Bass, 21 Fed. (2d) 460, and Updike v. Commissioner, 88 Fed. (2d) 807; certiorari denied, 301 U. S. 708.

We do not agree with the respondent that it was necessary for the decedent (Miss Bergan) to either accept all or renounce all of her share in her sister’s estate. We think that under the New York law the decedent could have accepted the $50,000 block of bonds and could have renounced the balance of her share. See In re Merritt's Estate, 155 App. Div. 228; 140 N. Y. S. 13; In re Matthiessen's Will, 175 Misc. 466; 23 N. Y. S. (2d) 802. Did Miss Bergan renounce the balance of her share of Mrs. Johnson’s estate in excess of the $50,000 block of bonds ? We think this question must be answered in the negative.

Taking all the evidence into consideration, we think it must be held that the decedent made a transfer to Mrs. Goggin of the decedent’s share of Mrs. Johnson’s estate in excess of the $50,000 block of bonds. Otherwise, there would have been no consideration for Mrs. Goggin’s promise to support Miss Bergan for the remainder of Miss Bergan’s life. And Mrs. Goggin testified at the hearing of this proceeding that “The agreement between my sister, Miss Bergan, and myself, under which I agreed to pay all her expenses so long as she should live, was looked upon by us as aYormal contract, although there was never any writing to evidence the same.” Again, in the words of Mrs. Goggin, “She [Miss Bergan] suggested to me that she would like to turn over her share of the Kate A. Johnson Estate to me in return for my agreement to support her and take care of her for the remainder of her life. * * * She stated, however, that she would like to have about $50,000 in securities transferred to her and that such a sum would be sufficient personal assets for all her purposes, and the income therefrom would be enough to make periodic charitable gifts which were her chief concern.” We find, therefore, as stated in our findings, that Miss Bergan “transferred” her share of Mrs. Johnson’s estate in excess of the $50,000 block of bonds to Mrs. Goggin in' consideration for the latter’s promise to support Miss Bergan for the remainder of Miss Bergan’s life. Since there was no renunciation by Miss Bergan of any part of her share of Mrs. Johnson’s estate, the cases of Brown v. Routzahn, In re Wolfe’s Estate, and In re Clarkson’s Estate, all supra,, relied upon by petitioner in support of her primary contention, have no application here.

Is this transfer of Miss Bergan’s share of Mrs. Johnson’s estate in excess of the $50,000 block of bonds includable in Miss Bergan’s gross estate under section 811 (c) of the Internal Kevenue Code?

We have found as a fact that the transfer was not made in contemplation of death. Cf. United States v. Wells, 283 U. S. 102. Not any of the evidence points in that direction. At the time the transfer was made Miss Bergan was in excellent health for a woman of her age.

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Bergan v. Commissioner
1 T.C. 543 (U.S. Tax Court, 1943)

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Bluebook (online)
1 T.C. 543, 1943 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bergan-v-commissioner-tax-1943.