Estate of Robert F. Klein v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

MERRITT, Chief Judge.

This ease presents the issue whether the taxpayer’s entire estate is eligible for the unlimited marital deduction under § 2056 of the tax code, as the Estate of Robert Klein (“Estate”) argued, or whether only a portion of the estate is eligible for the unlimited marital deduction because only a portion of the estate passed to the decedent’s spouse, Gladys Klein, as the IRS argued. The Estate took the full marital deduction. At its simplest the question is (1) whether Robert Klein intended his entire estate to go to Gladys Klein and disposed of the estate through the…