McDonald v. Commissioner

19 T.C. 672, 1953 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 253
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 22, 1953
DocketDocket Nos. 22506, 22507, 30556
StatusPublished

This text of 19 T.C. 672 (McDonald 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
McDonald v. Commissioner, 19 T.C. 672, 1953 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 253 (tax 1953).

Opinion

OPINION.

Tietjens, Judge:

We turn first to that aspect of the cases which cuts across both the estate tax controversy and the income tax problem, i. e., the question of whether the decedent “made a transfer” to Trust 924 within the meaning of section 811 (d) (2) 1 or was the “grantor” of the trust within sections 1662 and 167,3 Internal Revenue Code, the pertinent portions of which appear in the footnotes.

In epitome, the petitioners’ position on this aspect is that the basis of the decedent’s fortune was acquired while the McDonalds were residents of Idaho, a community property state; that all of the property held by Lenore and decedent at the time of their subsequent separation consisted of increments- to property originally held as community property or was purchased with the proceeds of such property and that the 12,000 shares of Penney stock placed in trust originally and the 500 shares afterwards added were less than Lenore’s interest in the community and were actually her property; and, therefore, that the decedent could not have made the transfer to the trust and could not have been the grantor thereof.

A careful study of the whole record convinces us that it does not contain evidence which would sustain this contention. To the contrary, we think the record as a whole demonstrates that decedent transferred stock of which he was the owner to Trust 924 and that he was the grantor thereof, and we have so found.

Decedent and Lenore lived in Idaho about four years, from 1913 to 1917. While there, approximately 102 shares of Penney stock were acquired, and, Idaho being a community property state, it appears that this stock could properly be treated as community property. Nevertheless, we cannot on the evidence trace these shares or the proceeds of them into the 12,000 shares which originally formed the corpus of Trust 924 and we are less able to find — after the property settlement of November 30,1931, the transfer of 5,500 shares from the trust to Lenore pursuant to the settlement as her separate property and the addition of 500 shares to the trust by the second party (the decedent) — that the shares remaining in the trust had ever been the property of anyone other than decedent, the trustor of the trust.

As is evident from the findings of fact, the great bulk of the transactions in Penney stock took place after the McDonalds had left Idaho in 1917 to take up their residence in the noncommunity property states of Minnesota and New York. There is nothing to show that any of the stock ever was registered in any name other than that of decedent or that any other person ever sold, bought, or managed the shares. The source of the funds used to purchase shares after the 1913-1917 period is not disclosed. The only testimony, aside from the Penney Company books (which show ownership in the decedent) in regard to the stock transactions was given by an assistant secretary of the Penney Company who was first employed by the company in 1917 and was not familiar with the specific way in which decedent acquired his shares. None of the shares were acquired after the couple took up residence in California in 1930. The shares placed in trust in 1930 represented something less than a third of the stock standing in decedent’s name at the time. Despite Lenore’s very general testimony to the contrary we think it very unlikely that decedent placed in the trust any shares of which he was not the owner.

Though petitioners’ counsel have made an earnest attempt to lead us through the maze of complicated stock transactions extending over many years, set out in our findings, to the ultimate conclusion that Lenore rather than decedent was, in fact, the transferor or grantor of the stock placed in Trust 924, we are unable to follow. On the question of ownership of the stock as between husband and wife we attach no significance to the fact that Lenore in a recital following decedent’s signature to the trust agreement joined in and ratified the agreement and waived any community or other interest which she “might otherwise assert” to the property made subject to the trust. We think this was simply one of the usual cautionary formalities attendant upon conveyances by either a husband or wife.

After a careful study of tbe record of stock transactions, the pleadings, the language employed in the trust agreement, the property settlement, and the testimony of Lenore, we conclude that the 7,000 shares of stock which were later split into the 21,000 shares remaining in the amended trust were, at the time placed there, the property of decedent and that he was the transferor and grantor thereof.

This conclusion does not mean, however, that the respondent’s action in including the entire value of the assets of Trust 924 in the gross estate of decedent was proper. Section 811 (i) provided that if the transfer of the stock to the trust was made

* * * for a consideration in money or money’s worth, but is not a bona fide sale for an adequate and full consideration in money or money’s worth, there shall be included in the gross estate only the excess of the fair market value at the time of death of the property otherwise to be included on account of such transaction, over the value of the consideration received therefor by the decedent.

The parties are in apparent agreement that in the event we hold that decedent was the transferor of the assets to Trust 924, the value of such assets is includible in the' gross estate unless the transfer of all or some part thereof was made for an adequate and full consideration in money or money’s worth.

The question, then, is whether the transfer to Trust 924, or any part thereof, was made for “money’s worth.” In dealing with gift tax questions and questions involving claims deductible in determining gross estate where the statutory language is similar to the language used in section 811 (i) it has been held and recognized that transfers of property or contracts entered into for the support of children by the father are made for “money’s worth”. Weiser v. Commissioner, (C. A. 10) 113 F. 2d 486; Estate of Eben B. Phillips, 36 B. T. A. 752; Edmund C. Converse, 5 T. C. 1014, affd. 163 F. 2d 131; Roland M. Hooker, 10 T. C. 388. See also 1 Paul, Federal Estate and Gift Taxation (1942), pars. 11.20, 11.24. On this point both parties cite Helvering v. United States Trust Co., (C. A. 2) 111 F. 2d 576, reversing on another issue and remanding 39 B. T. A. 783, certiorari denied 311 U. S. 678. Petitioners rely on that case and respondent seeks to distinguish it. On its facts, that case is as close as any we can find to the case before us, and we think the principle there established should govern the question here.

The United States Trust Co. case involved the question of whether any part of a trust fund was includible in the gross estate of decedent under the then equivalent of section 811 (d) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code. In that case decedent had become estranged from his wife some years before he died, and in contemplation of a divorce he made an agreement with her on January 31, 1929, by which he agreed to pay her $2,500 a month during her life, out of which she was to support berself without further recourse to him, and, in addition, to support, maintain, and educate her daughter during the time the said daughter resided with her.

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Related

Helvering v. Clifford
309 U.S. 331 (Supreme Court, 1940)
Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Bensel
100 F.2d 639 (Third Circuit, 1938)
Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Converse
163 F.2d 131 (Second Circuit, 1947)
Helvering v. United States Trust Co.
111 F.2d 576 (Second Circuit, 1940)
Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Weiser
113 F.2d 486 (Tenth Circuit, 1940)
Cohan v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
39 F.2d 540 (Second Circuit, 1930)
Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Katz
139 F.2d 107 (Seventh Circuit, 1943)
Newman v. Commissioner
1 T.C. 921 (U.S. Tax Court, 1943)
Hooker v. Commissioner
10 T.C. 388 (U.S. Tax Court, 1948)
Converse v. Commissioner
5 T.C. 1014 (U.S. Tax Court, 1945)
Gillette v. Commissioner
7 T.C. 219 (U.S. Tax Court, 1946)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 T.C. 672, 1953 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdonald-v-commissioner-tax-1953.