Polster v. Commissioner
United States Tax Court
Under decedent's will, his residuary estate was to be held in trust to provide annuities for two adult children. After the end of such life interests, the trust was to continue for the purpose of providing funds for church properties. All disbursements of trust corpus for such purposes were restricted to not more than 25 per cent of the cost of each church property.
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Under decedent's will, his residuary estate was to be held in trust to provide annuities for two adult children. After the end of such life interests, the trust was to continue for the purpose of providing funds for church properties. All disbursements of trust corpus for such purposes were restricted to not more than 25 per cent of the cost of each church property. Held, under all of the facts and circumstances, the possibility that charity will not take the entire bequest is not so remote as to be either negligible or highly improbable and, therefore, the estate is not entitled to a…
1Opinion of the Court
OPINION.
Harron, Judge:
The question to be decided is whether the alleged value at the time of the decedent’s death of the bequest to the Pentecostal Holiness Church, Inc., is deductible from the value of the gross estate under section 812(d) of the 1939 Code.1 Allowance of the claimed deduction was denied by the respondent pursuant to section 81.46 of Regulations 105 which is as follows:
Sec. 81.46 Conditional bequests.—
If as of the date of decedent’s death the transfer to charity is dependent upon the performance of some act or the happening of a precedent event in order that it might become…
2Cases cited20 opinions
- Burnet v. HarmelSupreme Court of the United States · 1932
- Helvering v. HallockSupreme Court of the United States · 1940
- Henslee v. Union Planters National Bank & Trust Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1949
- Merchants Nat. Bank of Boston v. CommissionerSupreme Court of the United States · 1943
- Klein v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1931
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3Cited by1 opinion
- Polster v. CommissionerUnited States Tax Court · 1959