Bryan v. United States

Appellants Juliette A. Bryan and The Equitable Trust Company, personal representatives of the estate of J. Wallace Bryan, instituted a civil action in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland on October 4, 1977 for refund of federal estate tax and interest paid as a result of the Internal Revenue Service’s disallowance of a marital deduction claimed by the estate. The parties filed cross motions for summary judgment on the issue whether, under Maryland law, testamentary language providing a surviving spouse with a “general power of testamentary disposition” over certain…