Estate of Morse v. Commissioner

69 T.C. 408, 1977 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 14
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedDecember 6, 1977
DocketDocket No. 7740-74
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 69 T.C. 408 (Estate of Morse 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
Estate of Morse v. Commissioner, 69 T.C. 408, 1977 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 14 (tax 1977).

Opinion

Drennen, Judge:

Respondent has determined a $30,761.49 deficiency in the amount of Federal estate tax due from petitioner.

The principal issue presented is whether the present value of annual payments of $12,000 per year to the decedent’s surviving spouse is deductible by petitioner under section 2053(a)(3), I.R.C. 1954,1 as a claim against the estate “ contracted bona fide and for an adequate and full consideration in money or money’s worth” under section 2053(c)(1)(A). Upon resolution of this issue depends the relevance of respondent’s assertion that certain check stubs and summaries of expenditures are inadmissible under rule 1006 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. However, we must determine initially whether respondent’s reliance at trial upon section 2053(a)(3) and (c)(1)(A) in denying the deduction, instead of section 2043 as averred in the notice of deficiency, constitutes a new matter raised by respondent thereby shifting the burden of proof to respondent under Rule 142(a), Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.2

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found.

Franklin A. Morse (hereafter referred to as Franklin) died a resident of Niles, Mich., on March 16, 1972. The First National Bank of Southwestern Michigan is the duly qualified administrator of his estate.

Franklin was a successful life insurance agent associated principally with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. He lived in South Bend, Ind., with his first wife until she died in 1960. He continued to live in South Bend until he moved to Niles, Mich., as recited below.

Lucile H. Zimmer (hereafter referred to as Lucile), a longtime family friend of Franklin, resided with her first husband, Henry W. Zimmer, in Niles, Mich. Zimmer was a successful corporate executive of a corporation in Niles. At his death in 1962, Lucile became the income beneficiary of two trusts, trust A and trust B, established by Zimmer. Trust A was a marital deduction trust and the entire net income thereof was to be distributed to Lucile. The net income of trust B was also to be distributed to Lucile during her life, provided that if the trustee determined that she did not need it, the income could be distributed to settlor’s descendants. Upon Lucile’s death trust B was to be distributed to settlor’s descendants. The trust agreement had been amended to provide for the distribution of the remaining principal in trust B to or for the benefit of the Zimmer children if Lucile remarried.

Lucile was given the right by the Henry Zimmer trust agreement to appoint a successor corporate trustee. Lucile exercised that right by appointing the First National Bank of Niles, Mich., on September 3,1963.3

Sometime after Zimmer’s death Lucile and Franklin’s friendship developed into courtship. Franklin proposed marriage in early 1964 but for various personal reasons Lucile decided against it at that time. In the course of their discussion, however, they began making a disclosure to each other of their respective property interests. Negotiations were complicated by the substantial property rights involved and by the fact that Lucile, upon remarriage, would forfeit her rights in the Henry Zimmer trust B. The annual distributions to Lucile from trust B for the years 1965-67 averaged about $12,000. Franklin offered, in the event of their marriage, to make arrangements to reimburse Lucile for the lost income from trust B if Franklin predeceased her.

Lucile owned a residence at 901 Sassafras Lane in Niles and a vacation home at Walloon Lake, Mich. Although Franklin owned a home in South Bend, he told Lucile that he would be reluctant to take her away from her home and friends in Niles. Lucile responded that they could live in her home in Niles if they married. Lucile never thought of asking him to pay rent if he lived in her home.

Despite the decision against marriage in 1964 Lucile and Franklin continued to see each other over the next 3 years. During this time there was an understanding that if marriage did occur, their primary residence would be Lucile’s home in Niles.

In 1965 Franklin sold his home and moved into an apartment in South Bend.

The couple decided to marry in March 1967. It was assumed by them that Franklin would implement his promise to reimburse Lucile for the income lost from trust B in the event he predeceased her. It was also assumed that he would reside in Lucile’s home.

Sometime in March or April 1967, Franklin and Lucile visited the law offices of James F. Thornburg for the purpose of formalizing in an antenuptial agreement their understandings as to the various property arrangements. Thornberg represented Franklin in these negotiations.

Prior to this meeting, Thornburg had consulted with Franklin concerning the understandings already reached by the couple. Thornburg was advised that they had agreed that Franklin would relinquish his apartment in South Bend and that the couple would establish their primary residence at Lucile’s home in Niles. Thornburg advised Franklin that he should obtain a life estate in the Niles residence in the event Lucile predeceased him.

At the meeting in Thornburg’s offices at which Franklin and Lucile were present to discuss formalization of the antenuptial agreement, there was a discussion concerning the fact that Franklin was going to provide Lucile with income lost from trust B in the event that he predeceased her. After this discussion, Thornburg then addressed Lucile and stated in substance: “I would be very remiss if I did not ask what you are doing for Steve [Franklin] in return.” Franklin had been concerned that Thornburg’s suggestion of a life estate in the Niles residence might interfere with the impending marriage, but he did not protest when Thornburg made his statement to Lucile. Lucile, very upset by Thornburg’s remark, consulted the next day with the president of petitioner and Donald F. Walter, the trust officer who had handled the Zimmer trust since 1963. Because of their long association and frequent consultations Lucile relied on Walter’s advice concerning her financial arrangments. During the ensuing negotiations to finalize the antenuptial agreement, Walter, although not technically acting as her attorney, was protecting Lucile’s interests.

After this consultation Lucile decided to grant Franklin a life estate in the Niles residence and its furnishings if she predeceased him.

The antenuptial agreement was executed on April 27,1967, in Thornburg’s and Walter’s presence. It provides in relevant portion:

And in that each has separate and independent property and estate [from their prior marriages], the general character and extent thereof having been disclosed by each to the other, and in that both are familiar with the interests in the property of the other which the law, in the absence of this agreement, would invest in each upon the prior demise of the others;

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Bluebook (online)
69 T.C. 408, 1977 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-morse-v-commissioner-tax-1977.