Draper v. United States

BEEKS, District Judge.

The tomes of the law are replete with ingenious attempts to lawfully avoid the payment of income taxes. This is one of them. The case presents the unusual situation of a person seeking to avoid the payment of taxes admittedly due and owing by reliance on an element in the Washington community property law which is colloquially referred to among members of the Washington bar as “marital bankruptcy.”

The facts are not in dispute. Shirley Shively Draper is obligated to the United States of America for income taxes for the calendar years 1960 and 1961. Notice and demand have…