Estate of Thomas J. Semmes, Deceased, Elaine P. Semmes v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

The principal question in this case is whether a bequest of stock in trust to the decedent’s wife as trustee, with the wife to receive the income for life with power to encroach upon the corpus “for her own benefit, at any time she sees fit,” qualifies for the marital deduction provided by Section 2056 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (Title 26 U.S.C.A. § 2056). To come within this provision the widow must not only be entitled to all the income, but must have, in addition, the power to appoint the corpus to herself as unqualified owner, or to appoint the corpus as a part of her estate,…