Childers v. Commissioner

10 T.C. 566, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 226
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMarch 31, 1948
DocketDocket No. 9175
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 10 T.C. 566 (Childers 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
Childers v. Commissioner, 10 T.C. 566, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 226 (tax 1948).

Opinion

OPINION.

Van Fossan, Judge:

The question to be determined is whether Ethel K. Childers, by the amendment on January 10, 1936, of the trust indenture of May 16,1932, made a taxable gift of the entire trust estate.

The petitioners admit that the powers retained by the donor prior to January 10, 1936, subjected her to liability for income tax on the trust income, as determined in Ethel K. Childers, 39 B. T. A. 904; affirmed sub nom. Cox v. Commissioner (C. C. A., 10th Cir.), 110 Fed. (2d) 934; certiorari denied, 311 U. S. 667. They likewise admit that under the doctrine of Sanford’s Estate v. Commissioner, 308 U. S. 39, “The relinquishment of these controls might constitute a taxable gift.” They argue, however, that subsequent to the decision in the Sanford case, Congress, by the enactment of section 502 (b) of the Revenue Act of 1943 and amendment thereof by Joint Resolution of June 29, 1945,1 rendered the relinquishment of powers of administration and right to change any beneficial interest in trust corpus or income nontaxable.

Paragraph sixth in the original trust agreement provided that the donor could alter, amend, or revoke the trust in whole or in part at any time by a written instrument signed by her “and one other beneficiary hereinabove named then sui juris.” That provision was amended June 11, 1932, with the consent of Matie B. Kehrer, one of the beneficiaries, so that thereafter the trust agreement could be amended or revoked in whole or in part, at any time, and from time to time, by the donor “in conjunction with any other beneficiary hereinabove named then sui juris and having a substantial adverse interest in the disposition of the corpus of this Trust Agreement, or the income therefrom.” On January 10, 1936, that provision was again amended. Thereafter the trust agreement could be amended or revoked by the donor “in conjunction with any other individual (but not Trustee) beneficiary hereinabove named then sui juris and having a substantial adverse interest in the dispositon of such part of the corpus of the Trust Estate, or the income therefrom.”

The respondent does not contend that the interest of any of the beneficiaries other than the donor is not substantial and adverse. He contends that the amendment of the trust agreement on January 10, 1936, effected a transfer of property taxable as a gift because, in addition to other rights and powers relinquished, the donor also released her right to change any beneficial interest in the trust corpus or income except with the consent of the beneficiary whose interest she might wish to change.

The question to be determined is not, therefore, whether the donor’s right of revocation was limited by the required concurrence of a person having a substantial adverse interest, as it was in Estate of Leon M. Gillette, 7 T. C. 219, cited by petitioner. The question is whether the rights and powers retained by the donor in- the trust estate were such as to make the transfer in trust in 1932 incomplete until such rights and powers were released by her on January 10,1936.

In Ethel K. Childers, supra, which involved the same original trust prior to the amendment of January 10, 1936, it was held that the income of the trust for 1934 was taxable to the donor under section 167 of the Revenue Act of 1934. Upon appeal, the Circuit Court for the Tenth Circuit held that the power to revest in the grantor title to the whole of the corpus was vested in the donor under the trust instrument and that therefore the whole income of the trust was taxable to her under section 166 of the Revenue Act of 1934. The Circuit Court further held that the trust income was taxable to the. donor under section 22 (a) of the same act. The above decisions are not conclusive here, as argued by respondent. It does not follow that because income of a trust is taxable to the grantor the transfer in trust as to either corpus or income is incomplete for gift tax purposes. “The two taxes are not that closely integrated.” James A. Hogle, 1 T. C. 986, 988; affd. (C. C. A., 10th Cir.), 165 Fed. (2d) 352.

Prior to its amendment January 10, 1936, the trust agreement provided that in all matters wherein any discretion was granted to the trustees (the donor and one other), the decision of the donor should be conclusive and binding upon both trustees and beneficiaries. Because of such provision it was within the exclusive power of the donor to pay to any beneficiary only part of his or her allotted share of the income, and to accumulate the balance, which, upon the death of a beneficiary became a part of the trust corpus. The donor could likewise determine the amount and the time when the accumulated income was to be distributed to any beneficiary. It was within her power to pay out such sums from the principal for the comfort, maintenance, and/or education of any beneficiary, of which donor was one, as in her discretion was necessary for such purpose or purposes. The donor was given custody of the trust estate with power to make all investments, including investment in the unsecured note of any individual or firm in which donor was a stockholder, partner, or member, without incurring any liability for any loss resulting therefrom to the trust estate. The donor could determine the mode in which expenses were to be borne as between capital and income and which moneys or property were to be treated as capital or income. Upon termination of the trust the corpus and accumulated income, “regardless for what accounts the same are held,” were to be divided into, five equal parts and distributed to the beneficiaries, if living, or to his or her lawful issue. In the event of complete revocation, the entire corpus and all other property or money of the trust, including all accumulated income, was to revert absolutely to the donor. As stated in Ethel K. Childers, supra, the donor could, while conforming to the terms of the trust agreement, “effectively exclude the other beneficiaries from participation whenever she should so determine.” The donor could recapture the trust corpus and income by exercising her right to invest in her unsecured note without liability for any loss; could recapture the trust principal by using it for her own comfort and maintenance; and could change the portion allotted to each beneficiary by exercising her right to withhold and accumulate the income and use the principal for the comfort, maintenance, and education of any beneficiary.

In the Sanford case a trust was created in 1918 in which the grantor reserved to himself the power to terminate the trust in whole or in part or to modify it. In 1919 the grantor surrendered the power to revoke, but reserved the right to modify, but only to designate new beneficiaries other than himself. In 1924, after the effective date of the gift tax statute of 1924, he renounced his power to modify the trust. It was held that the relinquishment in 1924 of control over the disposition of the trust property completed the transfer in trust so as to subject it to the gift tax. In Rasquin v. Humphreys, 308 U. S. 54, following the decision in the Sanford case, it was held that a reservation in a trust, created in August 1934, of power in the donor to designate new beneficiaries other than himself rendered the gift incomplete within the meaning of the gift tax statute of 1932 and not subject to the gift tax imposed thereby.

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Childers v. Commissioner
10 T.C. 566 (U.S. Tax Court, 1948)

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Bluebook (online)
10 T.C. 566, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/childers-v-commissioner-tax-1948.