George G. Abraham and Herbert Abraham, Trustees of the Abraham Trust v. United States

EDWARDS, Circuit Judge.

This case presents a single legal issue: Where a trust instrument provides the trust with the normal characteristics of a corporation and gives the trustees the normal powers necessary to conduct business, do these facts require that the trust be regarded as an “association” which is taxable like a corporation, even though its actual activities are consistent with those of a liquidating trust? 1

Chief Judge Bailey Brown, sitting in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, answered this question affirmatively and granted appellee’s motion…