Union Commerce Bank v. Commissioner

39 T.C. 973, 1963 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 173
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMarch 22, 1963
DocketDocket No. 93381
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 39 T.C. 973 (Union Commerce Bank 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
Union Commerce Bank v. Commissioner, 39 T.C. 973, 1963 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 173 (tax 1963).

Opinion

OPINION.

Arundell, Judge:

Respondent determined for assessment against petitioner the amount of $190,811.11, plus interest as provided by law, constituting petitioner’s liability as trustee-transferee of property of Ethel M. Kolb, transferee of property of the estate of Justina C. Baker, Cleveland, Ohio, for a deficiency in estate tax.

The errors assigned are as follows:

(a) Respondent erred in determining that the decedent, Justina C. Baker, was at her death possessed of an undivided one-half vested interest in a trust under the will of Ethel F. Kaufman.
(b) Respondent erred in including any part of the property of said trust in the gross estate of the decedent, Justina C. Baker, for estate tax purposes.
(c) Respondent erred in determining that the value of the property of said trust at the applicable valuation date was $1,110,965.40.
(d) Respondent erred in failing to allow as a deduction in determining the taxable estate of the decedent, Justina C. Baker, the amount of Federal gift tax for the calendar year 1941 and interest thereon which, consistent with respondent’s theory, had accrued and was indebtedness of and a claim against the estate of the decedent at her death.
(e) Respondent erred in failing to allow as deductions in determining the taxable estate of the decedent, Justina C. Baker, amounts representing expenses incurred and paid in administering the property in the trust under the will of Ethel F. Kaufman, deceased.

Assignment (c) has been resolved in the stipulation of facts.

The facts were all stipulated and are so found.

Petitioner, the Union Commerce Bank, as trustee under an agreement with Ethel Baker Kolb (sometimes referred to as Ethel M. Kolb) grantor, dated March 13, 1956, is liable as transferee of property of Ethel Baker Kolb, transferee of property of the estate of Justina C. Baker, deceased, for a deficiency, if any, in Federal estate tax (including interest) of the estate of Justina C. Baker, deceased, to the extent of $336,378.66.

Justina C. Baker, a widow, hereinafter sometimes referred to as the decedent, died testate on January 27, 1956, at the age of 98, a resident of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, survived by her daughter, Ethel Baker Kolb. A Federal estate tax return for her estate was filed with the district director of internal revenue for the Cleveland district of Ohio on April 26, 1957. In such return an election was made under section 2032, I.B..C. 1954, to value the estate in accordance with the alternate valuation provisions in the Code. The return showed a gross estate of $417,935.48, a taxable estate of $351,077.89, and a net estate tax of $90,890.43, which latter amount was paid to the district director with the return.

Ethel F. Kaufman, a widow and sister of the decedent, died testate on April 11,1939, a resident of Lucas County, Ohio. On July 17,1939, her will was admitted to probate and the Toledo Trust Co. was appointed administrator w.w.a. of her estate by the Probate Court of Lucas County, Ohio.

Except for the sum of $1,000 specifically bequeathed to the Forest Cemetery Association, Ethel F. Kaufman’s will conveyed all of her property in trust to the Toledo Trust Co. (successor to Toledo Savings Bank & Trust Co.) to pay two-thirds of the income in equal shares to her brother, Leon D. Mowry; the decedent; and her nieces, Mary Henrietta Mowry and Ethel Baker Kolb, the only children of Leon and Justina, respectively. The will was, however, uncertain and subject to bona fide dispute as to the disposition of the other one-third of the income, the disposition of the remainder interest after the life estates, and the possible sharing by charities and other persons. Among other things the will dated October 6, 1923, provided:

Tliis is my last will and testament. After my just debts and funeral expenses are paid I wish to have one thousand dollars placed with “The Forest Cemetery Association” * * *. I desire that the estate be placed with the Toledo Savings Bank and Trust Company of Toledo — Ohio with the understanding that no investments nor leases are to be made without the consent and approval of the respective heirs. Two thirds of the net income I wish to be equally divided among my brother Leon D. Mowry of Morenci, Michigan, my sister Justina C. Baker wife of J. A. Baker of Monroe, Michigan, my niece Ethel Baker Kolb wife of Clifton M. Kolb of Cleveland — Ohio and my niece Mary Henrietta Mowry daughter of Leon D. Mowry of Morenci, Michigan upon her attaining her eighteenth birthday.
Any children that may be born to my brother Leon D. Mowry or to his descendants or to my niece and her descendants to share equally in the estate upon attaining their majority.
In ease there should remain no heirs the estate may be given to charities.

On October 24,1939, Louis L. Fifield and others, as heirs of Charles E. Kaufman, deceased husband of Ethel F. Kaufman, filed a petition in the court of common pleas of Lucas County, Ohio, against the Toledo Trust Co., administrator w.w.a. of Ethel F. Kaufman’s estate, Justina, Leon, Ethel, Mary, and others, contesting the validity of Ethel F. Kaufman’s will, seeking a determination that there was an intestacy as to all of her property and, under section 10503-5, Ohio Gen. Code (the so-called “half and half statute,” presently section 2105.10, Ohio Rev. Code), claiming one-half of the property which theretofore had been bequeathed to her by her said deceased husband. The proceedings are for convenience hereinafter sometimes referred to as “the will contest action.”

The defendants in the will contest action filed a plea in abatement, an answer, and written interrogatories. The plaintiffs then filed a special demurrer to the defendants’ interrogatories, a motion to strike the defendants’ plea in abatement, and a brief in support thereof, which motion was denied by the court. The defendants’ attorneys took depositions which indicated the legal capacity of said plaintiffs to claim under section 10503-5, Ohio Gen. Code.

Discussions were then had among counsel for the plaintiffs and defendants looking to a mutually satisfactory basis for settlement of the will contest action and the disputed provisions of Ethel F. Kaufman’s will. By this time, 19 additional claimants had joined the original 3 plaintiffs in the will contest action. Recognizing that there was the possibility of claim by other unknown heirs and the nest of kin of Ethel F. Kaufman and her deceased husband, as well as by the attorney general of the State of Ohio on behalf of charities, it was agreed that the will contest action could not be effectively disposed of without a will construction action as well.

Accordingly, such an action was instituted on March 15, 1941, by the Toledo Trust Co., administrator w.w.a. of the estate of Ethel F. Kaufman, deceased, in the Court of Common Pleas of Lucas County, Ohio, against Justina, Ethel, Leon, Mary, the 22 persons claiming to be heirs of Charles E. Kaufman, deceased, the attorney general of the State of Ohio, and others. The petition sought the court’s construction of Ethel F.

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Related

Estate of Millikin v. Commissioner
1998 T.C. Memo. 456 (U.S. Tax Court, 1998)
Estate of Webster v. Commissioner
65 T.C. 968 (U.S. Tax Court, 1976)
Estate of Marshall v. Commissioner
51 T.C. 696 (U.S. Tax Court, 1969)
Union Commerce Bank v. Commissioner
39 T.C. 973 (U.S. Tax Court, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 T.C. 973, 1963 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/union-commerce-bank-v-commissioner-tax-1963.