Kieckhefer v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

189 F.2d 118, 40 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 661, 1951 U.S. App. LEXIS 3936
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMay 23, 1951
Docket10301_1
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 189 F.2d 118 (Kieckhefer v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kieckhefer v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 189 F.2d 118, 40 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 661, 1951 U.S. App. LEXIS 3936 (7th Cir. 1951).

Opinions

MAJOR, Chief Judge.

This appeal involves a deficiency in petitioner’s gift tax for the taxable year 1945, during which'he made a gift in trust to a minor grandson. The question for decision is whether the Tax Court correctly sustained the Commissioner’s determination that such gift was of a future interest so as to preclude the statutory exclusion of $3,000, as provided for in § 1003(b)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Title 26 U.S. C.A. § 1003(b)(3).

The taxpayer, a resident of Prescott, Arizona, but for many years engaged in business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the year 1944 consulted his attorney, Malcolm K. Whyte, also of Milwaukee, and advised him of the birth of a grandchild and that he would like to make a gift in trust to such child of $3,000. Counsel advised him that if the gift was one of a future interest the statutory exclusion would not be allowable but that he thought he could draw a trust instrument which would evidence a gift of a present and not a future interest. As a result of this conference, counsel prepared a trust instrument which was executed by the taxpayer on August 23, 1944. The grandson and beneficiary, John Irving Kieckhefer, was born on July 30, 1944. Robert H. Kieckhefer, son of the taxpayer and father of the grandson, was named as trustee. The trustee was also a resident of the State of Arizona, and admittedly during the taxable year was amply able financially to support and educate his son.

Only paragraphs 5 and 13 of the trust instrument need be considered. In fact, the controversy in the main revolves around the latter paragraph.

Paragraph 5, so far as here material, provides : “The trustee shall pay to the beneficiary or apply on his behalf such income from the trust and so much of the principal thereof as may be necessary for the education, comfort and support of the beneficiary and shall accumulate for such beneficiary all income not so needed. * * * The trust estate shall be deemed vested absolutely in said beneficiary and shall be his property, but the trustee is authorized and directed to hold said estate, unless the trust be prior terminated as hereinafter provided, until such beneficiary arrives at the age of twenty-one (21) years, at which time the trustee shall pay over to him the said trust estate including all accumulations. In the event that the said beneficiary shall die prior to his becoming twenty-one (21) years of age, the said trust estate and any accumulations ■shall belong to his estate and shall be paid over to his administrator.” (Italics ours.)

In the absence of the italicized phrase, we agree with the Tax Court that the provisions of this paragraph would require a holding adverse to the taxpayer as they come squarely within both the reasoning and the decisions in Fondren v. Commissioner, 324 U.S. 18, 65 S.Ct. 499, 89 L.Ed. 668, and Commissioner v. Disston, 325 U.S. 442, 65 S.Ct. 1328, 89 L.Ed. 1720. In fact, that such is the case appears to be conceded on all sides.

Paragraph 13 provides: “This trust has been created by the donor after full con[120]*120sideration and advice. Upon such consideration and advice the donor has determined that this said trust shall not contain any right in the donor to alter, amend, revoke or terminate it. The beneficiary shall be entitled to all or any part of the trust estate or to terminate the trust estate in whole or in part at any time whenever said John Irving Kieckhefer or the legally appointed guardian for his estate shall make due demand therefor by instrument in writing filed with the then trustee and upon such demand being received by the trustee the trustee shall pay said trust estate and its accumulations, or the part thereof for which demand is made, over to. said John Irving Kieckhefer or to the legally appointed guardian for his estate who made such demand on his behalf.” (Italics ours.)

The italicized language of this paragraph forms the basis for the controversy as to whether the taxpayer’s gift to his grandson was of a present or future interest. Again the Commissioner, as well as the Tax Court, relies upon the Fondren and Disston cases in support of the conclusion that it falls within the latter category. Other cases cited and relied upon both by the Commissioner and the taxpayer are of little, if any, aid because they each deal with a different factual situation. In fact, there is no case, so far as we are aware, where a court has decided the issue before us upon the same or even a similar state of facts.

The Commissioner’s argument rests upon two premises, (1) that the infant beneficiary, being of tender years, could not make an effective demand, and (2) that the minor beneficiary had no legally appointed guardian at the time of the execution of the trust or since its establishment. In connection with this latter premise, it is urged that under the law of Arizona (the residence and domicile of the beneficiary as well as his father), it is doubtful if the court would appoint a guardian for the purpose of making a demand and, even so, that his actions would be subject to court review.

Section 86.11 of Treasury Regulation 108, promulgated under the Internal Revenue Code, so far as here pertinent, provides: “No part of the value of a gift of a future interest may be excluded in determining the total amount of gifts made during the calendar year. ‘Future interests’ is a legal term, and includes reversions, remainders, and other interests or estates, whether vested or contingent, and whether or not supported by a particular interest or estate, which are limited to commence in use, possession, or enjoyment at some future date or time.”

We think the Fondren and Disston cases-on the facts are readily distinguishable. In each of those cases, the court was dealing with trust agreements which by their terms, contained the restrictions and conditions which led the court to decide that the gifts were of a future interest. As was pointed' out in the Fondren case 324 U.S. at page 24, 65 S.Ct. at page 503 (the Disston case is to-the same effect), “That contingency by the explicit terms of the trust, was the existence of need, which was then nonexistent and, in the stated contemplation of the donors, was not likely to occur in the future, at any rate during the child’s minority.” In contrast, the trustee in the instant situation is required “at any time” to pay the trust estate to the minor beneficiary upon demand made as provided. Thus, the conditions and restrictions upon which the Commissioner relies to convert this gift into one of a future interest are not imposed by the trust instrument but, if they exist, are the result solely of the disability of the beneficiary due to the fact that he is a minor.

The taxpayer in the Fondren case argued (the same argument is made' here) that the position of the Commissioner means that every gift to a minor is of a future interest. The court, in response to this argument, stated 324 U.S. at page 29, 65 S.Ct.- at page 505, “The argument is appealing, in so far as it seeks to avoid imputing to Congress the intention to ‘penalize gifts to minors merely because the legal disability of their years precludes them for a time from receiving their income in hand currently.’ ” Following this, the court made a statement which again emphasizes the factual distinction between that case and this.

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Bluebook (online)
189 F.2d 118, 40 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 661, 1951 U.S. App. LEXIS 3936, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kieckhefer-v-commissioner-of-internal-revenue-ca7-1951.