Estate of Morrissette v. Comm'r

146 T.C. No. 11, 146 T.C. 171, 2016 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 12
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 13, 2016
DocketDocket No. 4415-14.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 146 T.C. No. 11 (Estate of Morrissette v. Comm'r) 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
Estate of Morrissette v. Comm'r, 146 T.C. No. 11, 146 T.C. 171, 2016 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 12 (tax 2016).

Opinion

ESTATE OF CLARA M. MORRISSETTE, DECEASED, KENNETH MORRISSETTE, DONALD J. MORRISSETTE, AND ARTHUR E. MORRISSETTE, PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Estate of Morrissette v. Comm'r
Docket No. 4415-14.
United States Tax Court
146 T.C. 171; 2016 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 12; 146 T.C. No. 11;
April 13, 2016, Filed

An appropriate order will be issued granting petitioners' motion for partial summary judgment.

In 2006 D's revocable trust, T, entered into two split-dollar life insurance arrangements with three distinct trusts. T then contributed a total of $29.9 million to the trusts in order to fund the purchase of life insurance policies on each of D's three sons. The split-dollar life insurance arrangements provided that T would receive the greater of the cash surrender value of the respective policy or the aggregate premium payments on that policy upon termination of the split-dollar life insurance arrangement or the death of the insured.

R determined that the $29.9 million contribution was a gift for tax year 2006. R determined a gift tax deficiency against E, the estate of D, of $13,800,179 and an I.R.C. sec. 6662 penalty of $2,760,036. E moved for partial summary judgment under Rule 121 on the narrow issue of whether the split-dollar life insurance arrangements are governed by the economic benefit regime under sec. 1.61-22, Income Tax Regs.

Held: Because the only economic benefit conferred upon the trusts was current life insurance protection, the economic benefit regime applies.

*12 James Egbert McNair III and Kelley C. Miller, for petitioners.
Warren P. Simonsen and Rachel L. Rollins, for respondent.
GOEKE, Judge.

GOEKE

*172 GOEKE, Judge: This matter is before us on a motion for partial summary judgment under Rule 121(a)1 filed by the Estate of Clara M. Morrissette (estate). The issue for decision is whether, for valuation purposes, the split-dollar life insurance arrangements at issue are governed by the economic benefit regime set forth in section 1.61-22, Income Tax Regs.2

Decedent, Clara M. Morrissette, lived in Virginia at the time of her death on September 25, 2009. Personal representatives of the estate lived in Virginia when the petition was filed.

Background

Mrs. Morrissette and her late husband, Arthur E. Morrissette, were married in 1933. Mr. Morrissette and Mrs. Morrissette had three children, Arthur E. Morrissette, Jr. (Arthur), Donald*13 J Morrissette (Donald), and Kenneth Morrissette (Kenneth) (collectively, Morrissette brothers).

In 1943 Mr. Morrissette started a moving company called Ace Van & Storage in Washington, D.C. From 1954 until 2002 the Morrissette family incorporated or purchased a total of 10 companies in addition to Ace Van & Storage (collectively, Interstate Group). All companies in the Interstate Group were brother-sister corporations with identical ownership.

Effective January 1, 2009, all shareholders of each company in the Interstate Group contributed their stock in those companies to Interstate Group Holdings, Inc. (IGH), in *173 exchange for IGH stock. After the exchange IGH remained an S corporation while the remaining Interstate Group companies became qualified subchapter S subsidiaries of IGH.

Buy-Sell Arrangement

Mrs. Morrissette established a revocable trust, the Clara M. Morrissette Trust (CMM Trust), on August 24, 1994, appointed herself as the initial trustee, and contributed all of her stock in each company in the Interstate Group to the CMM Trust. In September 2006 the Morrissette brothers became successor cotrustees of the CMM Trust to assist Mrs. Morrissette, who at that time had attained 93*14 years of age and who required assistance in managing her financial affairs.

Arthur, Donald, and Kenneth petitioned the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia (Fairfax court) for appointment of a conservator for Mrs. Morrissette's estate and asked the conservator to transfer additional assets to the CMM Trust. On August 18, 2006, the court found Mrs. Morrissette to be permanently incapacitated and appointed Cathleen A. Hatfield, an employee of the Interstate Group, to serve as the conservator. The Fairfax court granted Ms. Hatfield broad authority to act on Mrs. Morrissette's behalf. The conservatorship expired on October 20, 2006.

Mrs. Morrissette, through Ms. Hatfield, established three perpetual trusts in 2006: (i) the Arthur E. Morrissette, Jr. Dynasty Trust for the benefit of Arthur and his family (Arthur Dynasty Trust), (ii) the Kenneth Morrissette Dynasty Trust for the benefit of Kenneth and his family (Kenneth Dynasty Trust), and (iii) the Donald J. Morrissette Dynasty Trust for the benefit of Donald and his family (Donald Dynasty Trust) (collectively, Dynasty Trusts).

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Bluebook (online)
146 T.C. No. 11, 146 T.C. 171, 2016 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-morrissette-v-commr-tax-2016.