Estate of Kate B. Leggett, Deceased, by Milton W. Leggett v. United States

OPINION OF THE COURT

ALDISERT, Circuit Judge.

Before us is an appeal from the denial of a claim for refund of an estate tax. The district court held that a life bequest of personalty to Kate B. Leggett under the will of her husband, William T. Leggett, created a debtor-creditor relationship between the life tenant and remaindermen, thereby subjecting her estate to a tax on all increments to the value of her husband’s bequest occurring from 1909, the date of his death, to 1960, when she died. 1

Kate’s executor, appellant in these proceedings, argues that by affirmative actions of the life tenant,…