Estate of Leeds v. Commissioner

OPINION

Issue 1. The Marital Deduction

Section 2056 provides generally that, for purposes of the tax imposed by section 2001, the value of the taxable estate shall be determined by deducting from the value of the gross estate an amount equal to the value of any interest in property which passes from the decedent to the decedent’s surviving spouse. Section 2056(c) (1) limits the deduction to an amount not exceeding 50 percent of the value of the “adjusted gross estate.”

We must decide whether 50 percent of the value of Budolph’s “adjusted gross estate” passes to Florence, his surviving wife, as…