Dravo v. Commissioner

40 B.T.A. 309, 1939 BTA LEXIS 861
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedJuly 27, 1939
DocketDocket Nos. 88094, 89366.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 40 B.T.A. 309 (Dravo v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dravo v. Commissioner, 40 B.T.A. 309, 1939 BTA LEXIS 861 (bta 1939).

Opinion

[319]*319OPINION.

Black :

In Docket No. 88094 the respondent, under subdivision (c) of section 302 of the Eevenue Act of 1926, as amended, included $395,-000 in the decedent’s gross estate as a result of the transfer in trust made by Francis E. Dravo on January 17, 1931. In Docket No. 89366 the respondent, under subdivisions (c) and (d) of the same act, included $415,000 as a result of the transfer made by Ealph M. Dravo on January 15, 1931. In neither case has the respondent allowed any deduction under section 303 (a) (3) from the amounts thus included under section 302. Petitioners contend that no amount should have been so included under section 302 except the value of certain remainder interests of the Ealph M. Dravo trust and that, should any part payable to such charities as the respective settlors shall designate be held to be includable under section 302, then petitioners are entitled to a deduction in the same amount under section 303 (a) (3). First, we shall consider to what extent, if at all, the respective transfers are includable in the gross estates of the respective decedents.

At the time the two trusts were created in January 1931, the material provisions of section 302 of the Eevenue Act of 1926 were as follows:

Seo. 302. The value of the gross estate of the decedent shall be determined by including the value at the time of his death of all property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, wherever situated—
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[320]*320(c) To the estent of any interest therein of which the decedent has at any time made a transfer, by trust or otherwise, in contemplation of or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after his death, except in case of a bona fide sale for an adequate and full consideration in money or money’s worth. * * *
(d) To the extent of any interest therein of which the decedent has at any time made a transfer, by trust or otherwise, where the enjoyment thereof was subject at the date of his death to any change through the exercise of a power, either by the decedent alone or in conjunction with any person, to alter, amend, or revoke, or where the decedent relinquished any such power in contemplation of his death, except in case of a bona fide sale for an adequate and full consideration in money or money’s worth. * * *

In applying subdivision (c) in his respective determinations, the respondent applied it not as it was originally enacted, but as it was later amended by Joint Resolution of March 3, 1931, Public 131, Seventy-first Congress, and by section 803 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1932. At the hearing the parties stipulated that neither of the transfers in question was made in contemplation of death. In so stipulating, the respondent, in each proceeding, reserved the right to contend for the application of subdivision (c), not as it was originally enacted in section 302, supra, but as it was later amended. It is now settled that these amendments to subdivision (c) apply only to transfers made after the dates of their respective adoption. Hassett v. Welch, 303 U. S. 303. They do not apply here. Subdivision (d) has been amended by section 401 of the Revenue Act of 1934 and by section 805 of the Revenue Act of 1936. The latter amendment is not applicable here, and the former amendment to the estent that it might be applicable is not material. The material provisions of the applicable statute are therefore subdivisions (c) and (d) of section 302 of the Revenue Act of 1926, supra, as they existed at the time the trusts in question were created.

In the statements attached to the deficiency notices the respondent gives two principal reasons for including the corpora of the two trusts of Francis and Ralph in their respective gross estates. The first is that the trusts were made in contemplation of death. Since it has been stipulated that such was not the fact, the respondent’s first reason requires no further discussion. The second principal reason is that, due to the simultaneous trusts created by Fanny and Jane, each decedent in effect retained during his lifetime the income from the property he transferred, and that such a retention of income brings his transfer within section 302 (c) of the Revenue Act of 1926, as amended by section 803 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1932. As pointed out in the previous paragraph, the amendments to subdivision (c) are not applicable here because of the fact that the trusts were created prior to March 3, 1931. Hassett v. Welch, supra. The retention or nonretention of income by the decedents in these proceedings is not [321]*321a deciding factor. May v. Heiner, 281 U. S. 238. Therefore, assuming without deciding that the fact that Francis was made the life beneficiary of the trust created by his wife, Fanny, was equivalent under the circumstances to a reservation by Francis in his own trust of the income for life and that the same situation existed as to Ealph M. Dravo, such facts would not enable the Commissioner to prevail. Hassett v. Welch, supra. In the statement attached to the deficiency notice in Docket No. 89366 the respondent gives an additional reason for including a part of the corpus of Ealph’s trust in his gross estate. He says:

On the death of decedent and wife one-half of the common stock of the Dravo Corporation, however, not to exceed 20 percent of the total trust estate, is to be distributed to employees of the Dravo Corporation, 75 per cent of which is to go to the officers and employees certified to the trustees. Frank R. Dravo, decedent’s brother, predeceased decedent, therefore, from the date of the brother’s death up until the time of decedent’s death the decedent alone possessed the power to shift the economic benefit of the remainder interest amongst the employees due to the power the decedent had to certify who should share in the remainder interest. The cessation of this power brings this portion of the trust principal under Section 302 (d) of the Revenue Act of 1920.

If the remaining part of the corpus of Ealph’s trust and all or any part of the corpus of Francis’ trust are to be included in their respective gross estates, it must be for reasons other than those contained in the deficiency notices. Cf. Helvering v. Gowram, 302 U. S. 238. Petitioners contend that, with the possible exception of that part of the corpus of Ealph’s trust which went to those officers and employees of the Dravo Corporation as might be certified by Ealph alone after the death of his brother Francis and prior to the death of his wife, Jane, no part of the corpus of either trust is includable under either subdivision (c) or (d) of section 302, supra. Probably due to the death of respondent’s counsel, Harold Allen, no brief has been filed on behalf of the respondent.

Is any part of the corpora of the Francis E. Dravo trust and the Ealph M. Dravo trust includable in the respective gross estates of the decedents by reason of the provision contained in article second, section 1, of all four trusts, whereby the trustees could in their discretion advance portions of the principal of the wife’s trust to her husband and vice versa ? In Allan S. Lehman et al., Executors, 39 B. T. A. 17, we said:

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Related

Estate of Oliver v. Commissioner
3 T.C.M. 408 (U.S. Tax Court, 1944)
Helvering v. Hallock
309 U.S. 106 (Supreme Court, 1940)
Dravo v. Commissioner
40 B.T.A. 309 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1939)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
40 B.T.A. 309, 1939 BTA LEXIS 861, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dravo-v-commissioner-bta-1939.