Estate of Wetherill v. Commissioner

OPINION.

Van Fossan, Judge:

The issue here is whether or not the estate’s right to a deduction under section 812 (d) of the Internal Revenue Code is defeated by the fact that the value of the gift to the Board of Regents of the University of Colorado can not be determined because the trust instrument permitted the invasion of the trust corpus for the benefit of the decedent’s wife.

The question in all cases of this character must be answered by the precise phraseology of the trust or will. Generally speaking, such instruments fall into two classes: (1) Those in which the language permitting the…