McIntosh v. Commissioner

85 T.C. No. 4, 85 T.C. 31, 1985 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 60
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJuly 16, 1985
DocketDocket No. 21618-81
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 85 T.C. No. 4 (McIntosh 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
McIntosh v. Commissioner, 85 T.C. No. 4, 85 T.C. 31, 1985 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 60 (tax 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

Clapp, Judge-.

Respondent determined a deficiency in petitioner’s Federal income tax for the year 1978 in the amount of $129,398. After concessions, the sole issue for decision is whether the transfer of a one-half interest in appreciated ranch land by John McIntosh to his former wife pursuant to a divorce settlement agreement is a taxable event.

This case was submitted fully stipulated pursuant to Rule 122, Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure. The stipulation of facts and attached exhibits are incorporated herein by reference.

Petitioner John McIntosh resided in Havre, Montana, at the time his petition was filed. Petitioner was married to Jean McIntosh (hereinafter referred to as Jean or former wife) on July 22, 1954. Shortly thereafter, on September 17, 1954, petitioner executed a contract for deed, acquiring an equitable fee interest in the Phillips Place, a tract of land containing 2,120 acres and costing $78,000. The title to the Phillips Place was held by petitioner in his name, alone. During the course of their marriage, petitioner’s wife helped petitioner work the farm and ranch, cooked for him and the other farm workers, raised the couple’s four children, and maintained the family home.

On October 17, 1978, a petition for dissolution of marriage was filed by Jean McIntosh. On or shortly after October 17, 1978, petitioner and his former wife entered into a property settlement agreement. This agreement states in pertinent part:

IV.
The Parties are the owners of certain real and personal property which has been acquired both prior to and since their marriage through the efforts of both Parties. The Parties further declare to each other that they have fully disclosed to the other the complete nature, description and extent of all property interests acquired in their individual and in their joint names, both prior to and since the date of their marriage and in which they have a present legal, equitable or beneficial ownership interest; and the Parties are each aware of the encumbrances and liabilities affecting their farm and ranch properties and the extent of their personal liability in connection therewith; and in consideration of the agreements herein contained, it is mutually agreed that the property of the Parties hereto shall be divided and finally distributed as follows:
* sfc * if: jjc * *
4. In lieu of alimony, support and maintenance, the Wife, Jean D. McIntosh, is to receive and retain ownership of an undivided one-half (V2) interest in approximately 2,760 acres of farm and ranch lands. * * * [I]t is understood the Wife will lease her interest in said lands to the Husband, John S. McIntosh, for a term of ten (10) years, on a one-fourth Q/i) crop share basis, with a minimum share guarantee of at least 3,000 bushels per year to be delivered in the Elevator in the Wife’s name.

On October 25, 1978, petitioner, pursuant to the above agreement, tranferred an undivided one-half interest in 1,800 acres of the Phillips Place to his wife. Petitioner and his wife were divorced by decree of dissolution of marriage, dated November 13, 1978. The court stated in the decree that both parties were able-bodied persons, capable of working and earning sufficiently to meet their needs, and neither required any support from the other. The property agreement was incorporated as part of the decree.

In the notice of deficiency, the Commissioner included, among other adjustments, an amount of capital gain as a result of the transfer of the ranch land from petitioner to his former wife.

After concessions, the sole remaining issue in this case is whether petitioner’s transfer of the undivided one-half interest in ranch land to his former wife, Jean, pursuant to a property settlement agreement, executed in connection with their divorce, constitutes a taxable disposition.

The leading case on this issue, applicable to the transfer herein, is United States v. Davis, 370 U.S. 65 (1962).1 The taxpayer-husband transferred appreciated stock to his former wife pursuant to a voluntary property settlement agreement, incorporated into the divorce decree. Under Delaware law, the stock transferred was that of the husband, subject to certain marital rights of the wife, including a right of intestate succession and a right upon divorce to a share of the husband’s property. The taxpayer argued that the transfer was comparable to a nontaxable division of property between two co-owners while respondent contended that it more resembled a taxable transfer of property in exchange for the release of an independent legal obligation. The Supreme Court, in finding the transfer to be a taxable event, stated:

the inchoate rights granted a wife in her husband’s property by the Delaware law do not even remotely reach the dignity of co-ownership. The wife has no interest — passive or active — over the management or disposition of her husband’s personal property. Her rights are not descendable, and she. must survive him to share in his intestate estate. Upon dissolution of the marriage she shares in the property only to such extent as the court deems "reasonable.”* * * Regardless of the tags, Delaware seems only to place a burden on the husband’s property rather than to make the wife a part owner thereof. In the present context the rights of succession and reasonable share do not differ significantly from the husband’s obligations of support and alimony. They all partake more of a personal liability of the husband than a property interest of the wife. * * * Although admittedly such a view may permit different tax treatment among the several States, this Court in the past has not ignored the differing effects on the federal taxing scheme of substantive differences . between community property and common-law systems. [370 U.S. at 70-71.]

Petitioner in this case argues that, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s opinion in Davis, State law should be consulted to determine the nature of Jean’s interest in the property. Under Montana law, Jean had a vested interest in the ranch land property. Therefore, the transfer constitutes a division of property between co-owners and is a non taxable event.

On the other hand, respondent argues that the question of the taxability of a transfer of appreciated property in connection with a divorce is a Federal question to be decided by Federal courts using Federal criteria. Respondent contends that considering the rights granted a spouse by Montana law and evaluating those rights in light of the Davis criteria, e.g., descendible rights, management of property, the transfer of the property in the instant case more resembles a taxable transfer of property in exchange for the release of an independent legal obligation than it resembles a nontaxable division of property between two co-owners.

The key question presented in this case then is what is the nature of the former wife’s interest, if any, in the ranch land and what criteria should be used to determine that interest.

In determining the criteria, we note the well-settled principles that State law creates legal interests and rights.

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McIntosh v. Commissioner
85 T.C. No. 4 (U.S. Tax Court, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
85 T.C. No. 4, 85 T.C. 31, 1985 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 60, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcintosh-v-commissioner-tax-1985.