Estate of Fred A. Brock, Jr., Eleanor Brock Ilfrey v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

A taxpayer contends that the remainder interest in a salt royalty is an interest in a personal residence or farm. Finding that a salt royalty can be neither a residence nor a farm, even though the salt deposit may be beneath a farm or residence, we affirm the Tax Court’s decision, 71 T.C. 901, denying a charitable deduction for this legacy of such an interest.

Fred A. Brock, prior to his death, owned a ranch in Brazoria County, Texas. In 1960, he entered into a “Salt and Storage Agreement,” pursuant to which Dow Chemical Company agreed to make royalty payments in return for the right to mine…