Olincy v. Cranston

245 Cal. App. 2d 898, 54 Cal. Rptr. 682, 1966 Cal. App. LEXIS 1533
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 26, 1966
DocketCiv. No. 29540
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 245 Cal. App. 2d 898 (Olincy v. Cranston) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Olincy v. Cranston, 245 Cal. App. 2d 898, 54 Cal. Rptr. 682, 1966 Cal. App. LEXIS 1533 (Cal. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinions

HERNDON, J.

Both the state Controller and the executor of the decedent’s will have appealed from the order determining and fixing the state inheritance tax due from this estate. The executor contends that the court below erred in overruling one of his objections to the report of the inheritance tax appraiser and in fixing the tax in an amount $66,752.84 in excess of the $56,595.23 conceded to be due. The Controller argues that there was error in the "striking down” of certain of the Controller’s inheritance tax regulations.

Summary of Material Facts

On June 21, 1950, the decedent, hereinafter referred to as “Norman,” and his attorney, George R. Olincy, hereinafter referred to as “ Olincy, ’ ’ executed a declaration of trust, and in July 1950, Norman, as trustor, transferred to Olincy, as trustee, certain voting trust certificates. By the terms of said declaration of trust, Norman reserved the income for his life and after his death to five other persons for their lives. The trust was to terminate upon the death of the last survivor of these named persons and the remainder of the then existing corpus was to be distributed to certain charities. Norman reserved the right to change the life beneficiaries and the remaindermen.

On January 14, 1952, the assets of the trust consisted of certificates representing one-half of the issued and outstanding shares of Merle Norman Cosmetics, Inc., and the fair market value thereof was $756,250. At that time Norman’s assets outside the trust amounted to less than $8,800 and his liabilities amounted to $232,130. These liabilities included an indebtedness on a promissory note for $100,000 held by Jack B. Nethercutt, hereinafter referred to as “Nethercutt,” and $70,133 owed to the Collector of Internal Revenue, of which $50,000 was due and payable on January 15,1952.

To raise this $50,000, in December 1951, Norman asked Olincy to see if Nethercutt would lend him that amount. Nethercutt at first refused this request, but later offered to buy the remainder interest in the trust for the $50,000 required. After several meetings between Norman and Olincy held for the purpose of determining whether $50,000 was a fair price, Norman finally indicated his willingness to make the proposed sale and instructed Olincy to prepare the papers. Olincy [900]*900reported this to Nethereutt, but suggested that it would be to the mutual benefit of the parties if (a) instead of denominating the $50,000 as a purchase price, it were advanced as an “interest-free loan” repayable only out of the remainder interest, and (b) instead of transferring the remainder interest to Nethereutt, Norman would transfer it to Nethereutt’s sons. Nethereutt agreed to this, and so did Norman.

The transaction was consummated in the form of a “loan” on the terms suggested by Olincy. The $50,000 was paid to Norman on January 14, 1952, and Norman thereupon paid it to the Collector of Internal Revenue. In consideration of the “loan,” Nethereutt’s sons, Jack B. Nethereutt II and Robert C. Nethereutt, then minors, were irrevocably designated as remaindermen of the trust and the charities formerly designated to receive the corpus of the trust estate upon its termination were eliminated. Norman died on October 23,1959.

The Controller accepts this summary except that he does not agree that any substantial consideration was given for the transfer of the remainder interest to Nethereutt’s sons.

Order of the Probate Court

The inheritance tax appraiser calculated the date-of-deatn value of the remainder interest at $505,561.96, and treated it as the subject of a taxable transfer to Nethereutt’s sons. The executor filed objections on two grounds: (1) that it was not a taxable transfer, having been made for a full and adequate consideration; and (2) that the date-of-death value had been erroneously computed at an excessive amount.

The trial court overruled the first objection and held that the 1952 transfer was taxable. This ruling is the subject of the executor’s appeal.

The trial court sustained the second objection and found that the value of the remainder interest at date-of-death was only $393,210.04. This ruling is the subject of the controller’s appeal.

The Executor’s Appeal

The executor concedes that a transfer conforming to Revenue and Taxation Code, section 13641, if made with donative intent, is taxable under sections 13643 and 13644 of the code. Under section 13641, if the transfer is made during lifetime by a resident “for a consideration in money or money’s worth, but the transfer is not a bona fide sale for an adequate and full consideration in money or money’s worth, the amount of the transfer subject to this part [of the tax] shall be the excess [901]*901of (a) The value, at the date of the transferor’s death, of the property transferred, over (b) An amount equal to the same proportion of the value, at the time of the transferor’s death, of the property transferred which the consideration received in money or money’s worth for the property transferred bears to the value, at the date of transfer, of the property transferred. ’ ’

It is the contention of the executor that the transfer of the remainder interest to Nethercutt’s sons on January 14, 1952, the date on which Norman received the $50,000 “loan,” was made for a full and valuable consideration. The executor argues (1) that the transfer was made as a part of a business transaction without donative intent, and must therefore be deemed to have been made for a full and adequate consideration, and (2) that retrospective appraisals show that the value of the consideration received by Norman was in fact greater than the value of the remainder interest transferred by him.

Sufficiency op Consideration

The trial court found that the transfer “was not made for or in full and adequate consideration equal in money or money’s worth to the full value of the remainder interest transferred in that the payment of $50,000 by Jack B. Nethercutt was as is set forth in finding XIV. ’ ’

In finding XIV the court found that the transaction “in which Jack B. Nethercutt transferred to Andrew Norman $50,000 without interest, in consideration of Andrew Norman amending his trust agreement of June 21,1950, and irrevocably designating Jack B. Nethercutt II, and Robert C. Nethercutt to take the remainder interest in the trust agreement of June 21, 1950, after the death of trustor Andrew Norman, Barbara King and Jack B. Nethercutt, was a loan by Jack B. Nethercutt to Andrew Norman and was to be repaid out of the corpus of the trust after the death of Andrew Norman and upon the termination of the trust agreement. That no fair market value on January 14,1952, of the remainder interest in the trust is herein found for the sum of $50,000 loaned to Andrew Norman by [Jack B.] Nethercutt was a loan requiring repayment thereof and not a purchase. ’ ’

The trial court was in error in holding, as a matter of law that the “loan” could not constitute a valuable consideration for the transfer of the remainder interest. It was expressly held in Reidy v. Collins, 134 Cal.App. 713, 720-721 [26 P.2d 712] that “A loan or advancement of money consti[902]*902tutes a valuable consideration” for the transfer of property. Laibly v. Halseth (Wyo.) 345 P.2d 796, is to the same effect.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Estate of Norman
245 Cal. App. 2d 898 (California Court of Appeal, 1966)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
245 Cal. App. 2d 898, 54 Cal. Rptr. 682, 1966 Cal. App. LEXIS 1533, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/olincy-v-cranston-calctapp-1966.