Gammill v. Commissioner

710 F.2d 607
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 3, 1982
DocketNos. 80-1589, 80-1590 and 80-1614
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 710 F.2d 607 (Gammill v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gammill v. Commissioner, 710 F.2d 607 (10th Cir. 1982).

Opinion

WILLIAM E. DOYLE, Circuit Judge.

This appeal grows out of a divorce action in Oklahoma in which the parties were John S. Gammill and the respondent, Marjorie Gammill, the former wife of John Gammill. Involved are alleged deficiencies in income taxes for the years 1971 and 1972 amounting to $9,416.98 for John Gammill and a deficiency in 1973 of $6,253.00 for John Gammill and Betty Milliren, the latter being the second wife of John. A third case, which is being appealed, involves a deficiency assessed against Marjorie J. Gammill of $13,157.50. These deficiencies grew out of a dispute which arose recently over a series of payments made by John to Marjorie in accordance with the divorce decree. The case turns on whether the payments made were alimony or were installments in a property settlement. In effect the Commissioner is a neutral person in the case because if John Gammill prevails Marjorie would be taxed on the payments in question, 26 U.S.C. § 71(o), and appellants would be entitled to a deduction, 26 U.S.C. § 215. On the other hand, if it is determined that this was a property settlement rather than an award of alimony, the payments are neither taxable nor deductible to or by either party. The reason is that John treated these payments as alimony and claimed deductions. He was required, however, to pay back the income deduction which he claimed as a result of treating the payments as alimony.

The Tax Court held that the payments were part of a property settlement agreement and did not constitute alimony. Therefore, John Gammill and Betty Milliren were ordered to pay the deficiency for the disallowed deductions that they had taken and Marjorie Gammill was relieved of the obligation to include in her taxable income the amounts that she had received or which will be received in the future.

On November 5, 1970 John and Marjorie Gammill were granted a divorce decree in the district court for Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. At the time of their marriage in 1946 neither party had any separate property of any substantial value. Through the years they accumulated substantial assets. John held in his name 942,294 shares of Reserve National Insurance Co., a corporation which he had formed in 1956. He held title to the office building that Reserve National occupied. Other property included a home, stocks and bonds, art objects, a brokerage valued at $50,000 and personal items. The valuation put on the estate by Marjorie’s attorney was $811,261. Marjorie had not been employed outside the home. Her contribution to the marriage was that of homemaker and mother to their sons. At the time of the divorce the parties entered into a contract titled as a “Property Settlement Agreement” in contemplation of the divorce. Under this agreement Marjorie received a total of $417,000, which was roughly one-half of the value of the estate as determined by her attorney. This agreement was incorporated into the divorce decree. The decree contained language which indicated its nature and character. It provided for the payment by John of $250,000 to Marjorie. Marjorie Gammill was granted a judgment in the amount of $250,000 to be payable at the defendant’s option without interest in equal monthly installments of $1,041.47 for a period of 240 months with the right of prepayment. The judgment was secured by a lien against 300,000 shares of stock of the defendant in Reserve National Insurance Company. This represented only a portion of the stock in the insurance company owned by the defendant. John was allowed to withdraw the security, [609]*609that is the stock, that was deposited if he prepaid the judgment debt. Further security was a $60,000 term insurance policy that provided that the provisions of the property settlement contract and any other provisions of said property settlement contract which might be held to be unenforceable as a judgment, should be and remain a binding and enforceable contractual agreement.

Another provision declared that should John die during the period of the agreement, that the entire debt would be due and owing at once. Also the same would be true if he was in default more than thirty days and, thus, she had a property interest in the estate. Also included was a provision that the property settlement would inure to the benefit of the heirs, executors, devisees, trustees and assigns of each party. This proviso would pertain to the premature death of John and the obligations of his estate to pay the remaining amount of principal to Marjorie or her estate.

In the judgment below the Tax Court concluded that the payments required over a period of twenty years were intended to be a property settlement and not a form of alimony or support. The Tax Court reached this conclusion based on numerous facts in the record. The relevant language from the decree labeled it as property and assets set over to Marjorie Gammill. The phrase “as a part of” is revealing since the original language used was “in addition to”; the final phrase was a correction by inter-lineation initialed by both parties and the Oklahoma state judge. The property settlement agreement treats this lump sum as a “further division of property and not as alimony.” There can be little dispute about this language. This together with the other provisions make it most difficult for John to deny that this was intended to be a property division when he agreed to the fact of property division in the contract itself. See Bardwell v. Commission, 318 F.2d 786, 789 (10th Cir. 1963).

The Tax Court looked to the substantive character of the agreement and the property involved in light of Oklahoma Statute Title 12 subsection (b) of § 1289, which allows the divorce court to designate in the decree the dollar amount of any periodic alimony payments which are for support. The reason for this is the support payments are to cease upon the death of the recipient. Also the decree is to state that support ends with remarriage of the recipient, unless a showing of need is made for its continuation. The absence of the statutorily required language in the GammiH’s divorce decree in order for the payments to be regarded as alimony is very significant.

THE BURDEN OF APPELLANTS — THE APPLICABLE LAW

In reviewing the judgment of the Tax Court we are, of course, subject to the clearly erroneous standard of review. The determination that payments on the $250,-000 principal sum are a part of a property settlement and not a matter of support is a question of fact. Commissioner v. Duberstein, 363 U.S. 278, 80 S.Ct. 1190, 4 L.Ed.2d 1218 (1960); Riley v. Commissioner, 649 F.2d 768 (10th Cir. 1981). It is necessary therefore for this court to look at the circumstances in order to ascertain the intention of the parties. See United States v. Davis, 370 U.S. 65, 82 S.Ct. 1190, 8 L.Ed.2d 355 (1962); Hayutin v. Commissioner, 508 F.2d 462 (10th Cir. 1975). However, the federal tax consequences of payments labeled as support or as division of property are not determined under state law. Bardwell v. Commissioner, supra,

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Bluebook (online)
710 F.2d 607, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gammill-v-commissioner-ca10-1982.