Daniel v. Commissioner

56 T.C. 655, 1971 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 107
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJune 29, 1971
DocketDocket No. 3508-68
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 56 T.C. 655 (Daniel 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
Daniel v. Commissioner, 56 T.C. 655, 1971 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 107 (tax 1971).

Opinion

SteRRett, Judge:

Respondent determined deficiencies in tlie income tax of petitioners as follows:

Year Deficiency
1962_ $3,299.05
1963_ 8,803.30
1964_ 3, 456. 63

We are asked to decide whether alimony payments, which were made out of petitioner Richard T. Daniel’s income interest in a testamentary trust created by his father, are excludable from petitioner’s gross income, or includable in his income with a corresponding deduction for these payments under section 215.1

findings of fact

All of the facts were stipulated and are so found.

Richard T. Daniel, Jr. (hereinafter referred to as the petitioner), and Aena M. Daniel are husband and wife whose legal residence was Kerrville, Tex., at the time their petition was filed in this action.

On September 12, 1941, petitioner and Mary Dean Daniel (hereinafter referred to as Mary Dean) were married in San Antonio, Tex. On April 16, 1957, petitioner instituted an action for divorce against Mary Dean in the State of Texas. Mary Dean was served with process in Oklahoma City, Okla., but made no appearance in the Texas proceeding. Accordingly, on June 24,1957, the Texas court entered judgment against Mary Dean, granting petitioner the relief requested. Tire Texas decree provided in part, as follows:

It is, therefore, Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed by the Court as follows:
1. That the bonds of matrimony heretofore existing between the plaintiff R. T. Daniel, Jr. and the defendant Mary Dean Daniel be and the same are hereby dissolved and that the said R. T. Daniel, Jr. be granted, and he is hereby granted, an absolute divorce from the defendant Mary Dean Daniel.
2. That said parties did not acquire and do not own any community property, and that all property, real, personal or mixed, owned by the plaintiff in this state and/or in all other states of the United States is his separate property and estate and that defendant is entitled to no part thereof.

At this time, petitioner resided in Texas, while Mary Dean lived in Oklahoma. Petitioner was one of four beneficiaries of a testamentary trust created by his father, who died on April 18, 1949. The situs of this trust was located in Tulsa County, Olda. Under the terms of the trust, petitioner was to receive one-fourth of the net income produced by this trust for a period of 20 years, after which time the corpus was to be distributed to petitioner’s brothers, Samuel P. and William H. Daniel. Samuel and William were also named as trustees.

At some time prior to May 16,1957, petitioner had assigned 65 percent of his one-fourth interest in the income of the trust to other persons, and accordingly, he retained an interest of only 8.75 percent in the net income produced by this trust. In addition, his remaining interest was subject to a lien held by the First National Bank of Dallas as security for a loan made to petitioner on July 28,1951. The trustees were required to pay the bank $370 per month in satisfaction of that obligation.

On May 16,1957, prior to the entry of final judgment in the Texas proceeding, Mary Dean filed a petition with the District Court of Oklahoma against “E. T. Daniel, Jr.; Samuel P. Daniel, and William TT. Daniel, Trustees of the Trust Estate of K. T. Daniel, Sr.” in which petition Mary Dean prayed for temporary support and maintenance, a decree of separate maintenance, alimony, and a restraining, order against the trustees aforementioned prohibiting them from disbursing any moneys to the petitioner and directing them instead to pay temporary alimony to her in the amount of $750 per month.

The relief requested by Mary Dean was granted ex parte with temporary maintenance and support set at $750 per month to commence May 31,1957, and on June 11,1957, this order was affirmed pending a trial on the merits of Mary Dean’s suit. Both the trustees and E. T. Daniel, Jr., filed answers in the above matter. E. T. Daniel, Jr.’s answer alleged, in part as follows:

1. Tbe court is without jurisdiction of the property of this defendant.
* * * * * * *
9. The petition states no cause of action against this defendant.
Should the court continue to assert jurisdiction, this defendant alleges that he is wholly without funds or property and that it is inequitable and unjust, even if the court had jurisdiction, by reason of circumstances which will be put in proof and by reason of the nature of the property involved, that the plaintiff is allowed the sum now contained in the order of the court, which order this defendant still maintains is without jurisdiction; and the defendant pleads the inequity of the order as an additional reason, while even if the court had jurisdiction, the order should not continue to exist providing for $750 a month during the pendency of this action.

On May 22, 1958, after a full hearing was held on the merits of Mary Dean’s suit, a Journal Entry of Judgment was entered against petitioner and his codefendants. The order of the District Court provided that:

(a) The trust of R. T. Daniel, Sr. had its situs in Oklahoma.
(b) R. T. Daniel, Jr. owned an interest of 8.75 percent in the income produced by the aforementioned trust.
(c) R. T. Daniel, Jr. was duly and properly served by publication as provided by Oklahoma law.
(d) R. T. Daniel, Jr. obtained a divorce from Mary Dean on June 24, 1957, in a lawful Texas proceeding, but that proceeding in no way affected Mary Dean’s property or alimony rights relating to that marriage.
(e). The First National Bank in Dallas had a first lien on R. T. Daniel, Jr.’s interest and Mary Dean’s rights are secondary thereto.
(f) The award is a judgment in rem and is specifically not a personal judgment against the defendant R. T. Daniel, Jr., and
(g) Both the alimony and judgment and attorney’s fees are judgments in rem and a lien should be impressed upon the interest of the said R. T. Daniel, Jr., in the trust estate of R. T. Daniel, Sr., secondary only to the lien in favor of the First National Bank in Dallas.

The District Court then provided:

It Is Therefore Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed that the plaintiff, Mary Dean Daniel, should be and is hereby awarded the sum of Seventy-Two Thousand Dollars ($72,000) as alimony, said $72,000 judgment being in rem to be paid out of the interest of R. T. Danield, Jr. in the trust estate of R. T. Daniel, Sr. at the rate of $750.00 per month until paid, beginning June 10,1958, and each month thereafter, and the defendants, Samuel P. Daniel and William H. Daniel, trustees of the trust estate of R. T.

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Daniel v. Commissioner
56 T.C. 655 (U.S. Tax Court, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 T.C. 655, 1971 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daniel-v-commissioner-tax-1971.