Boyd v. Gray

175 F. Supp. 57, 4 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6023, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2907
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedJune 16, 1959
DocketCiv. A. 847
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 175 F. Supp. 57 (Boyd v. Gray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boyd v. Gray, 175 F. Supp. 57, 4 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6023, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2907 (W.D. Ky. 1959).

Opinion

SHELBOURNE, Chief Judge.

This case is before this Court a second time pursuant to an order entered by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 261 F.2d 914, on December 23, 1958, remanding the case to this Court to consider the effect of the Technical Amendments Act of 1958 upon the issues involved here. The judgment of this Court was entered December 2, 1957, dismissing the plaintiff’s petition for the reasons set forth in a memorandum opinion filed November 2, 1957, and reported in 162 F.Supp. 307. Pending the appeal, the Technical Amendments Act of 1958 became effective September 2, 1958, and, by Section 98 of that Act, Section 812 (e) (1) (F) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, 26 U.S.C.A. § 812(e) (1) (F), was amended. It was under this last named section of the Internal Revenue Code that the case was formerly determined by this Court.

The amendment here involved is applicable to the estates of decedents dying after April 1, 1948 and before August 17, 1954 (the effective date of the 1954 Internal Revenue Code). The purpose of the amendment was to conform the marital deduction provision of the 1939 Code with the more realistic rules of Section 2056 of the 1954 Code, 26 U.S.C.A. § 2056. The amendment is as follows:

“Sec. 93. Bequests, etc., To Surviving Spouse. “(a) Amendment of 1939 Code.— Section 812(e) (1) (F) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 (relating to trust with power of appointment in surviving spouse) is amended to read as follows:
“ ‘(F) Life Estate With Power of Appointment in Surviving Spouse.— In the case of an interest in property passing from the decedent, if his surviving spouse is entitled for life to all the income from the entire interest, or all the income from a specific portion thereof, payable annually or at more frequent intervals, with power in the surviving spouse to appoint the entire interest, or such specific portion (exercisable in favor of such surviving spouse, or of the estate of such surviving spouse, or in favor of either, whether or not in each case the power is exercisable in favor of others), and with no power in any other person to appoint any part of the interest, or such specific portion, to any person other than the surviving spouse
“ ‘(i) the interest or such portion thereof so passing shall, for purposes of subparagraph (A), be considered as passing to the surviving spouse, and
“ ‘ (ii) no part of the interest so passing shall, for purposes of sub-paragraph (B) (i), be considered as passing to any person other than the surviving spouse.
“This subparagraph shall apply only if such power in the surviving spouse to appoint the entire interest, or such specific portion thereof, whether exercisable by will or during life, is exercisable by such spouse alone and in all events.’
“(b) Effective Date. — The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to estates of decedents dying after April 1, 1948, and before August 17, 1954. If refund or credit of any overpayment resulting from the application of such amendment is prevented on the date of the enactment of this Act, or at any time within one year from such date, by the operation of any law or rule of law (other than section 3760 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 or section 7121 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, relating to closing agreements, and other than section 3761 of the Inter *59 nal Revenue Code of 1939 or section 7122 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, relating to compromises), refund or credit of such overpayment may, nevertheless, be made or allowed if claim therefor is filed within one year after the date of the enactment of this Act. No interest shall be allowed or paid on any overpayment resulting from the enactment of this section.”

Linn Boyd died November 25, 1951. Under the retroactive provisions of the Technical Amendments Act, the vital question in this case now is whether or not, under the terms of Linn Boyd’s will and the applicable laws of the State of Kentucky, decedent’s surviving widow, Marie B. Boyd, is entitled for life to all the income from the residuum of Linn Boyd’s estate with power to appoint the entire interest in all events.

We adhere to our former decision that the estate or interest devised to Marie B. Boyd is controlled by Kentucky law and that, under the “Polar Star Rule” set forth in Hanks v. McDanell, 307 Ky. 243, 210 S.W.2d 784, 17 A.L.R.2d 1, she was devised a life estate with power of disposition “in any way she may choose.”

Counsel for the Commissioner insists that, under Hanks v. McDanell, supra; Swango v. Swango’s Administrator, 313 Ky. 495, 232 S.W.2d 347; Collings v. Collings, Ky., 260 S.W.2d 935; Weakley v. Weakley, Ky., 237 S.W.2d 524, and St. Joseph Hospital, Lexington v. Dwertman, Ky., 268 S.W.2d 646, there is imposed upon the power of disposition and encroachment by Marie B. Boyd in this case a limitation prohibiting waste or a gift of the estate to prevent the remainderman from taking under the will and that such limitation, not measuring up to the statute’s requirement of “in all events”, prevents the allowance to the widow of the marital deduction. In short, he contends that the amendment is ineffective in the case at bar to authorize the marital deduction.

The only cases cited and discussed by counsel, or found by the Court, involving Section 93 of the Technical Amendments Act with facts similar to the case at bar are from the Fifth Circuit: Stallworth’s Estate v. Commissioner, decided August 1, 1958, 260 F.2d 760, and McGehee v. Commissioner, decided August 18, 1958, 260 F.2d 818, 820. Each case pertains to the review of a decision of the Tax Court. The case of Stallworth’s Estate involved the law of Alabama, and the McGehee case the law of Florida. The Stallworth case involved a trust created under decedent’s will, but the language of the will in the McGehee case is strikingly similar to the will in the case at bar. Delia Crawford McGehee made this provision for her husband:

“Item II. I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved husband, Matthew Rives McGehee, all of my property of every kind, character and description whatsoever, real, personal and mixed, and wheresoever situated, of which I may die seized and possessed in fee simple, and with full power to dispose of same and to use the income and corpus thereof in such manner as he may determine without restriction or restraint.

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Related

Piatt v. Gray
321 F.2d 79 (Sixth Circuit, 1963)
Snyder v. United States
203 F. Supp. 195 (W.D. Kentucky, 1962)
Collings v. United States
201 F. Supp. 266 (W.D. Kentucky, 1961)
Piatt v. Gray
201 F. Supp. 401 (W.D. Kentucky, 1961)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
175 F. Supp. 57, 4 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6023, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2907, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boyd-v-gray-kywd-1959.