Cutler v. Commissioner

5 T.C. 1304, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 12
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedDecember 27, 1945
DocketDocket Nos. 3684, 3683
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 5 T.C. 1304 (Cutler 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
Cutler v. Commissioner, 5 T.C. 1304, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 12 (tax 1945).

Opinions

OPINION.

ARnold, Judge:

The first issue is whether the value of the one-half interest in the trust created September 9, 1926, over which decedent exercised a power of appointment by will, to be included in the gross estate of decedent is $201,382.99, as determined by respondent, or a lesser amount, as contended by petitioner. Section 811 (f) of the Internal Revenue Code, as effective in 1940,1 requires the inclusion in the gross estate of a decedent of the value at the time of his death of any property passing under a general power of appointment exercised by the decedent by will. One-half the value of the property in the trust created September 9, 1926, was, on September 10, 1940, $201,382.99. Petitioner contends that the decedent by will exercised two powers of appointment: First, the right to appoint the person to receive one-half the income from the trust during the life of the decedent’s brother, William; second, the right to appoint the persons to receive one-half the principal of the trust after the death of William. Petitioner valued these two rights at $195,778.35. Respondent does not question the method used in determining these values if the rights are to be separately valued, but contends that, as the decedent’s power of appointment extended to the entire interest in the property, the amount to be included in the estate is the value of the property itself and not a lesser sum.

It is clear that the power of appointment given the decedent was a general power, that it was exercised, and that certain property passed under the power. In Palfrey v. United States, 36 Fed. Supp. 153, the District Court for the District of Massachusetts, in discussing the value of an interest to be included in an estate, said:

* * * the net value of a trust, such as is here involved, must be the actual value of the securities composing the trust as of the decedent’s death, less any restrictions which may go to depreciate that value.

The decedent in the instant case appointed all that he had the power to appoint. However, he did not have power to appoint the immediate transfer of half the principal of the 1920 trust. Under its terms that trust continued, and the disposition of the principal was postponed until the death of the surviving brother, William. The income during the continuance of the trust could be appointed, and the disposition of the principal at that future date could be appointed. The Newton Trust Co., as trustee of the trust created by the decedent in his will, did not immediately acquire the possession or use of the corpus, such right being postponed until termination of the 1926 trust. It received at decedent’s death only the right to the income therefrom during the continuance of the 1926 trust. As a result of this restriction upon the transfer of the principal, the value of these two separate property rights passing under the exercise of the power of appointment is less than the present value of the corpus subject to the power.

Where the value of a life estate has been included as part of a decedent’s gross estate it has been computed upon an actuarial basis. The correct method of computing the value of a remainder or rever-sionary interest was prescribed in Estate of Leonard S. Waldman, 46 B. T. A. 291, where the Board said:

We now come to the actuarial problem of computation of the value of the charitable devise as of the date of death of decedent. Petitioner contends that the value of the devise should be determined by first valuing the life estate and then subtracting that value from the value of the total residuum at the date of death, the remainder being the value of the devise to charity. Inasmuch as the problem here is to compute the value as of the date of decedent’s death of the remainder to charity, we think it clear that the proper method, which was employed by respondent, is to compute the value of the charitable devise subject to the life estate. We have previously approved this treatment of the problem. William, Nelson Cromwell et al., Executors, 24 B. T. A. 461; cf. Henry R. Ickelheimer et al., Executors, 14 B. T. A. 1317. * * *

In the instant case the value of the property passing under the power of appointment exercised by decedent in his will is the sum of the values of (1) the right to receive the income from $201,382.99 during the life of decedent’s brother, and (2) the right to receive the principal amount upon the death of the brother. We agree with petitioner that these rights should be separately valued and we have found the values of these combined rights to he $195,778.35.

The second issue is whether certain charitable bequests made by decedent in his will are deductible, under section 812(d) of the Internal Eevenue Code, from the gross estate. Decedent, by item third of his will, quoted above, bequeathed sufficient moneys to endow a bed in the Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and a bed in the New England Peabody Home for Crippled Children, Newton, Massachusetts. These payments were to be made, after the death of the decedent’s wife, from the principal of the trust created by the decedent’s will. After certain other bequests, the remainder of the trust fund was to be paid to the Newton Trust Co. as trustee of a “Permanent Charity Fund” under a trust agreement dated April 2, 1932.

Eespondent stipulated that the charities named in decedent’s will are of the type of charitable organizations bequests to which are allowable as deductions under section 812(d) of the Internal Eevenue Code, but contends that these bequests did not, at the date of decedent’s death, have a presently ascertainable value, in that the extent to which the corpus of the trust would be diverted from the charities and applied for the use and benefit of Edith Talbot Cutler, under the power given the trustee to make payments from the principal for her use and benefit, could not be measured accurately. Respondent cites in support of this position Merchants National Bank of Boston v. Commissioner, 320 U. S. 256, reversing 45 B. T. A. 270, and Estate of Charles H. Wiggin, 3 T. C. 464.

Under Eegulations 105, section 81.44, where a trust is created for both charitable and private purposes, the charitable bequest, to be deductible, must have at the decedent’s death a value “presently ascertainable and hence severable from the interest in favor of the private use.” In Merchants National Bank of Boston, Executor, supra, this provision was referred to as an appropriate implementation of the statute. In that case a part of the decedent’s estate was left in trust, the income to go to the wife for life, the remainder to certain charities. The trustee was given authority to invade the corpus in its discretion for the comfort, support, maintenance, and/or happiness of the wife, and was enjoined to exercise this discretion with liberality and to consider her welfare prior to claims of residuary beneficiaries. The Supreme Court, in discussing the claim for a deduction under section 303 (a) (3) of the Revenue Act of 1926, which is similar to section 812 (d) of the Internal Revenue Code, said:

For a deduction under § 303 (a) (3) to be allowed, Congress and the Treasury require that a highly reliable appraisal of the amount the charity will receive be available, and made, at the death of the testator.

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Cutler v. Commissioner
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Bluebook (online)
5 T.C. 1304, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cutler-v-commissioner-tax-1945.