Wolder v. Commissioner

OAKES, Circuit Judge:

These two cases, involving an appeal and cross-appeal in the individual taxpayers’ case and an appeal by the Commissioner in the estate taxpayer’s case, essentially turn on one question: whether an attorney contracting to and performing lifetime legal services for a client receives income when the client, pursuant to the contract, bequeaths a substantial sum to the attorney in lieu of the payment of fees during the client’s lifetime. In the individual taxpayers’ case, the Tax Court held that the fair market value of the stock and cash received under the client’s will…