Helvering v. Fitch

Petitioner claimed that an amount of $7,128 distributed in 1933 under a so-called alimony trust to respondent’s divorced wife should have been included in respondent’s taxable income for that year. The Board of Tax Appeals agreed and found a deficiency, 37 B. T. A. 1330. The Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, one Judge dissenting, 103 F. 2d 702. We granted certiorari because of the asserted failure of that court correctly to apply the principle involved in Douglas v. Willcuts, 296 U. S. 1.

The so-called alimony trust in question was created a few years before the divorce, while respondent and…