Doerken v. Commissioner
United States Board of Tax Appeals
A corporation obtained policies of insurance on decedent's life. It was the beneficiary, paid the premiums, entered the premiums as expense items on its books, credited itself with the annually increasing cash surrender values of the policies, kept the policies in its own custody and received the entire proceeds on the death of decedent.
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A corporation obtained policies of insurance on decedent's life. It was the beneficiary, paid the premiums, entered the premiums as expense items on its books, credited itself with the annually increasing cash surrender values of the policies, kept the policies in its own custody and received the entire proceeds on the death of decedent. In the printed form of the policy, decedent, as insured, had the right to change the beneficiary, to surrender or cancel the policy, to pledge the policy for a loan or to obtain a loan against the surrender value. He did not exercise such rights during the 13…
1Opinion of the Court
*812OPINION.
Van Fossan :
The issue before us is whether or not the proceeds of two policies of insurance taken out upon the life of the decedent, Edward Doerken, are includible in his estate.
The statute controlling the situation is section 302 (g) of the Revenue Act of 1926, as amended by section 404 of the Revenue Act of 1934,1 and the decision turns upon the correct construction of the words “taken out by the decedent upon his own life.”
The petitioners contend that the policies in question were not literally taken out by the decedent on his own life; that they were not acquired through…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Helvering v. Le GierseSupreme Court of the United States · 1941
3Cited by7 opinions
- United States v. Rhode Island Hospital Trust CompanyCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1966
- Estate of Grant H. Piggott, Deceased, David S. Piggott and Albert F. Piggott, Co-Administrators v. Commissioner of Internal RevenueCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1965
- Tom J. Kearns, Jr., Administrator of the Estate of Oscar Eugene Kearns, Deceased v. The United StatesUnited States Court of Claims · 1968
- Cockrill v. O'HARADistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee · 1969
- Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co. v. United StatesDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island · 1965
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