Moffett v. Commissioner

31 T.C. 541, 1958 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 16
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedDecember 17, 1958
DocketDocket No. 61764
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 31 T.C. 541 (Moffett 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
Moffett v. Commissioner, 31 T.C. 541, 1958 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 16 (tax 1958).

Opinion

OPINION.

Train, Judge:

Respondent determined a deficiency in petitioners’ estate tax in the amount of $436,044.99. The petitioners claim that an overpayment of tax has been made.

The issues for our decision are: (1) Whether the petitioners are entitled to a deduction under section 812 (d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 with respect to the value of a remainder interest in the corpus of a testamentary trust established by decedent, said remainder interest being for the benefit of a charitable corporation, and (2) if the answer to the first issue is in the affirmative, the value of that interest.

All of the facts have been stipulated and are hereby found as stipulated.

The decedent herein, George M. Moffett, died testate a resident of Queenstown, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, on December 22,1951. The Hanover Bank and James A. Moffett 2d are the duly qualified and acting executors under the last will and testament of the decedent. The estate tax return was filed with the collector of internal revenue for the district of Maryland.

Deceased’s last will and testament provides in part, as follows:

Eighth : In the event that my wife, Odette Fuller Feder Moffett, shall survive me, I give and bequeath to my Executors and Trustees, hereinafter named, the sum of One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,500,000.00) either in cash, or, in the discretion of said Executors and Trustees, partly in cash and the balance in marketable securities owned by me at the time of my death to be taken at the values thereof as finally determined for Federal estate tax purposes, IN TRUST, NEVERTHELESS, to hold, manage, invest and reinvest the same and dispose thereof and the income therefrom for the following uses and purposes:
A. To pay to my wife, Odette Fuller Feder Moffett, entirely out of the capital or principal of said Trust Fund, the sum of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) per annum in approximately equal quarterly instalments until the entire capital or principal of such Trust Fund shall have been so utilized, or until her death in the event that she should die prior to the complete exhaustion of said capital or principal through such annual payments.
In the event of the death of my said wife prior to the complete exhaustion of the capital or principal of such Trust Fund, the entire balance of such capital or principal, then remaining in the hands of said Trustees shall be forthwith paid over to Whitehall Foundation, Inc., a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey, to be used and applied by such corporation, in, for and to its corporate purpose in such manner as may be determined by the Trustees of said corporation.
During the life of my wife, all net profits realized from the sale or other disposition of capital assets of said Trust Fund shall be retained by the Trustees as a reserve against depreciation in the value of capital assets or losses realized from the sales or other dispositions thereof.
33. To pay to Whitehall Foundation, Inc., a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey, annually, the entire net income of said Trust Fund, to be used and applied by such corporation in, for and to its corporate purposes in such manner as may be determined by the Trustees of said corporation.
O. The amounts payable to my wife under the provisions of this paragraph Eighth of my Will shall inure to her benefit from the date of my death and be payable to my Executors during the period of administration of my estate and any amounts so paid to my said wife during said period shall be charged against the principal of such Fund and be deductible therefrom at the time of the transfer of such Trust Fund by said Executors to themselves as Trustees.
Ninth: I give and bequeath to my Executors and Trustees, hereinafter named, the sum of Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($300,000.00), either in cash, or, at the discretion of said Executors and! Trustees, partly in cash and the balance in marketable securities owned, by me at the time of my death to be taken at the values thereof as finally determined for Federal estate tax purposes, IN TRUST, NEVERTHELESS, to hold, manage, invest and reinvest the same and dispose thereof and the income therefrom for the following uses and purposes:
A. To pay to my brother, JAMES A. MOFFETT, entirely out of the capital or principal of said Trust Fund, the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per annum, in equal quarterly installments, until the entire capital or principal of such Trust Fund shall have been utilized, or until his death in the event that he shall die prior to the complete exhaustion of such capital or principal.
B. To pay to my sister, HELEN M. BARKER, entirely out of the capital or principal of said Trust Fund, the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per annum, in equal quarterly instalments, until the entire capital or principal of such Trust Fund shall have been utilized, or until her death in the event that she should die prior to the complete exhaustion of said capital or principal.
In the event of the death of both my said brother and my said sister prior to the complete exhaustion of the capital or principal of such Trust Fund, the entire balance of such capital or principal, then remaining in the hands of said Trustees, shall be forthwith paid over to Whitehall Foundation, Inc., a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey, to be used and applied by such corporation in, for and to its corporate purposes in such manner as may be determined by the Trustees of said corporation.
During the lives of my said brother and sister and the survivor of them, all net profits realized from the sale or other disposition of capital assets of said Trust Fund shall be retained by the Trustees as a reserve against depreciation in the value of capital assets or losses realized from the sales or other dispositions thereof.
O. To pay to Whitehall Foundation, Inc., a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey, annually, the entire net income of said Trust Fund, to be used and applied by such corporation in, for and to its corporate purposes in such manner as may be determined by the Trustees of said corporation.
Said Trustees may in their discretion, in lieu of holding the Trust Fund provided in this Ninth paragraph of my Will, use all or such part of the principal as they may deem advisable to purchase annuities from one or more insurance companies in good standing, for the benefit of the persons entitled to such annuity payments, and in case such annuities are purchased covering the entire amounts of the annuity payments, any balance of the Trust Fund over the cost of such annuities, shall be paid to Whitehall Foundation, Inc. and the Trust shall thereupon terminate. Otherwise the provisions hereof applicable to the Trust shall apply to such balance of the Trust Fund and the balances of the annuity payments not provided for by the annuities purchased.

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Related

Estate of Moor v. Commissioner
1982 T.C. Memo. 299 (U.S. Tax Court, 1982)
Estate of Gooel v. Commissioner
68 T.C. 504 (U.S. Tax Court, 1977)
Estate of De Foucaucourt v. Commissioner
62 T.C. No. 53 (U.S. Tax Court, 1974)
Woodworth v. Commissioner
47 T.C. 193 (U.S. Tax Court, 1966)
Estate of Schildkraut v. Commissioner
1965 T.C. Memo. 239 (U.S. Tax Court, 1965)
Polster v. Commissioner
31 T.C. 874 (U.S. Tax Court, 1959)
Moffett v. Commissioner
31 T.C. 541 (U.S. Tax Court, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 T.C. 541, 1958 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moffett-v-commissioner-tax-1958.