Webster v. Commissioner

38 B.T.A. 273, 1938 BTA LEXIS 887
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedAugust 9, 1938
DocketDocket No. 83466.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 38 B.T.A. 273 (Webster v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Webster v. Commissioner, 38 B.T.A. 273, 1938 BTA LEXIS 887 (bta 1938).

Opinion

[279]*279OPINION.

Hakeon:

The petitioner alleges that the Commissioner erred in including in the value of the gross estate all of the items referred to above and in allowing a deduction of only $1,614.50 for funeral expenses.

(1) Trusts created December 31, 1929, and July 12, 1932. — The decedent executed a trust December 31, 1929, and conveyed to the trustee, the Guaranty Trust Co. of New York, securities of a total par value of $122,000. This trust will be referred to as the 1929 trust. Paragraph 4 of the 1929 trust reserved to the grantor the right to withdraw not in excess of 50 percent of the total amount of securities and properties comprising the corpus of the trust. The decedent exercised the right to withdraw securities and in June 1932 withdrew 50 percent of the original amount of securities and properties placed in trust according to market values of July 7, 1932, directing that the securities be turned over to Baronig Baron, her attorney in fact. Thereafter, on July 12, 1932, decedent executed a trust indenture pursuant to which she conveyed to Baronig Baron as trustee the securities withdrawn from the 1929 trust. This trust will be referred to as the 1932 trust. The decedent did not make any additional withdrawals from the 1929 trust and it remained in force up to the time of her death, consisting of the original securities and properties minus the 50 percent amount of securities withdrawn in 1932. Decedent reserved the right to receive the income of each trust during her life.

From December 31,1929, to July 12,1932, the Guaranty Trust Co., trustee of the 1929 trust, was not called upon to make any payments out of principal of the trust for the grantor except in the one instance when decedent withdrew 50 percent of the securities. In the 1932 trust indenture it is stated, in explanation of some of the provisions, that Baronig Baron, the adopted son, “has, from time to time, to make certain expenditures of principal as well as interest for her [decedent’s] support, maintenance and comfort and the providing to the said grantor living expenses and luxuries including the maintenance and care of automobiles.” It is provided in paragraph 9 that the trustee, Baronig Baron, shall have power to withdraw from the principal of the (1932) trust such sums as shall be necessary for the best interests of the grantor in his own discretion or on the request of the grantor. It also appears that decedent considered that the 1932 trust would serve such purposes, for an intent is expressed in the trust that it would run “smoothly” if its terms could be carried out without the formality of decedent’s giving receipts for money or [280]*280securities to Baronig Baron, trustee, and if he should not he required to render accountings to any person.

With this brief reference to the terms of the two trusts, we turn to consideration of some of the contentions of the parties. It is the contention of petitioner’s counsel that the 1932 trust was but a “continuation” of the 1929 trust, so that the 1932 trust does not come within the amendments of section 302 (c) of the Revenue Act of 1926 effected in 1931 and 1932. Petitioner’s counsel offers little to support this theory. We think that this contention is not sound. The 1929 trust differed somewhat in its terms from the 1932 trust, as indicated by the respective paragraphs of the trusts quoted in the findings of fact. The decedent did not reserve any power to amend the 1929 trust, so that it would be difficult to construe the 1932 trust as an amendment of the 1929 trust. The trustee appointed under the 1932 trust was not a joint trustee with the trustee under the 1929 trust. The Guaranty Trust Co. did not join in the execution of the 1932 trust, which was executed only by the grantor and the new trustee, Baronig Baron. When decedent withdrew securities from the 1929 trust they became her property to do with as she desired. The property withdrawn was conveyed to a new trust. Whatever remainder interest Baronig Baron had received in these securities under the 1929 trust when it was created was divested when decedent withdrew the securities from the 1929 trust. It is immaterial that Baronig Baron, the beneficiary of the 1929 trust, was made the beneficiary of the 1932 trust. He might not have been made the beneficiary and might not have received again a remainder interest in the securities that had been withdrawn from the 1929 trust. We hold that the 1932 trust was a new trust, created July 12,1932. Congress, by Joint Resolution, March 3, 1931,1 amended the provisions of section 302 (c) of the Revenue Act of 1926 so as to include in the gross estate of a decedent the value, at the time of death, of property to the extent of any interest which the decedent had transferred by trust during life, if the decedent retained the right to receive income from the property transferred. Clearly, the 1932 trust, involving transfers made subsequent to March 3, 1931, comes within the provisions of the amendment to section 302 (c). Security First National Bank of Los Angeles, [281]*281Executor, 36 B. T. A. 633. We hold, therefore, that the value of the 1932 trust at the date of decedent’s death, $38,051.38, is properly included in the gross estate of decedent and respondent is sustained.

Turning now to the 1929 trust, it is clear that the amendments to section 302 (c) effected by the Joint Resolution of March 3,1931, and section 802 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1932 are not applicable to the 1929 trust with respect to decedent’s right to receive the income of that trust for life. The Supreme Court has held in Hassett v. Welch, 303 U. S. 303, that these amendments “are prospective in their operation and do not impose a tax in respect of past irrevocable transfers with reservation of a life interest.”

To include the 1929 trust in the decedent’s gross estate under section 302 of the Revenue Act of 19262 it is necessary to find that (1) the transfers were made in contemplation of death, or, (2) that they were intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after death, or (3) that the decedent had an interest in the corpus of the trust at the date of death. Respondent urges that all of the above propositions be found to exist. It is one of the chief contentions of respondent that decedent reserved the right to withdraw the principal of the 1929 trust in excess of 50 percent of the original amount of the properties placed in trust by making request to the trustee to make payments out of principal for illness and emergency and any other unusual expenses. In other words, respondent contends that decedent could have revoked the .entire trust. It is argued that there is an ambiguity in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the 1929 trust. This same question has been considered by the Court of Appeals of the State of New York in, In the Matter of the Appraisal of the Estate of Lisa W. Sand ford, Deceased, 14 N. E. (2d) 374. In this opinion the Court of Appeals stated as follows:

If an ambiguity arises by reason of an apparent conflict between paragraph 4 and paragraph 5 of the agreement of December 31,1929, the practical construction given to that instrument by the parties during the years 1930 and 1931 up to July 12,1932, would be quite persuasive in ascertaining intent. The trust of December 31, 1929, may, therefore, be interpreted as irrevocable up to fifty per cent of the corpus.

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Related

Estate of Rogers v. Commissioner
320 U.S. 410 (Supreme Court, 1943)
Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. v. Commissioner
40 B.T.A. 1210 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1939)
Morris v. Commissioner
38 B.T.A. 408 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1938)
Brown v. Commissioner
38 B.T.A. 298 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1938)
Webster v. Commissioner
38 B.T.A. 273 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
38 B.T.A. 273, 1938 BTA LEXIS 887, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/webster-v-commissioner-bta-1938.