1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 17">*17
D bequeathed her residual estate to a trust of which a church was a contingent remainderman. Such remainder does not constitute an interest in a charitable remainder annuity trust, a charitable remainder unitrust, or a pooled income fund, referred to in
75 T.C. 374">*374 The Commissioner determined a deficiency of $ 33,874 in the petitioner's estate tax. The parties have settled certain issues, and the issues remaining for decision are: (1) Whether
FINDINGS OF FACT
Some of the facts were stipulated, and those facts are so found.
75 T.C. 374">*375 The decedent, Mary E. Gillespie, died on December 4, 1974, and was a resident of Portland, Ore., at the time of her death. The executor of her estate, Bartlett F. Cole, filed a Federal estate tax return for the decedent's estate with the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Cole maintained a business address in Portland, Ore., at the time he filed the petition in this case.
On March 1, 1968, Mary E. Gillespie executed a last will and testament which provided that all jointly owned property pass upon her death to her husband, Miln D. Gillespie, if he survived her. The decedent1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 17">*21 also left the remainder of her estate in trust for the use and benefit of her son, Hugh William Gillespie (Hugh). The will named the Bank of California in Portland and Bartlett F. Cole as cotrustees of such trust. The will provided that the trustees shall, at their discretion, make payments for her son's support, education, health, and welfare, and that upon her son's 21st birthday, the trustees shall pay to him one-fifth of the principal balance and continue to pay him one-fifth of the principal balance on each of his birthdays thereafter. The trustees were instructed to distribute any remaining balance on his 26th birthday.
The decedent's will also provided that if her son were to die before the trust estate was distributed to him and if he had a child or children, then the undistributed balance shall be held in trust for the use and benefit of such grandchild or grandchildren and distributed to them in equal amounts when the youngest reaches the age of 21. The will further stated that if there were no surviving child or grandchild at the time of distribution, the undistributed trust estate shall go to the decedent's husband, and if he did not survive, then to the First Unitarian1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 17">*22 Church of Portland, Ore. (the church).
Miln Gillespie died on April 4, 1968, and, therefore, did not survive the decedent.
On July 9, 1973, the decedent executed a codicil to her will. The codicil provided that in the event the trustees were of the opinion that Hugh was unable to hold and manage his property, then the trustees should hold the estate in trust during his lifetime or until such time as, in their sole discretion, he was capable of handling his own financial affairs. In administering the trust, Hugh's general welfare was to be the trustees' paramount consideration.
Hugh suffers from chronic schizophrenia. Since adolescence, 75 T.C. 374">*376 he has generally lived in various institutions and schools for the emotionally disturbed. It is unlikely that he will ever recover from such illness or that he will ever be self-supporting.
When Mary Gillespie died on December 4, 1974, Bartlett F. Cole was appointed personal representative to administer the estate in Oregon. After the decedent's death, the Bank of California declined to serve as trustee, and Mr. Cole became the sole trustee. The decedent's estate is now closed.
On the Federal estate tax return, $ 145,988 was claimed 1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 17">*23 as a charitable deduction by reason of the gift of the remainder interest to the church. In his notice of deficiency, the Commissioner determined that such deduction was not allowable under
OPINION
The first issue to be considered is whether the estate is entitled to a charitable deduction for the contingent remainder interest bequeathed to the church. The Commissioner contends that such remainder interest is subject to the provisions of
Prior to the Tax Reform Act of 1969, Pub. L. 91-172, 83 Stat. 487, an estate tax deduction was allowed for transfers of property in trust with a remainder interest to charity if the 75 T.C. 374">*377 value of the charitable interest was presently ascertainable, and if the possibility that the charitable transfer will become effective was not so remote as to be negligible. Sec. 20.2055-2(a), and (b), Estate Tax Regs. Thus, if a decedent who died before January 1, 1970, transferred property to a trust to pay income to an individual for life and then to pay the principal to charity, the present value of the remainder interest qualified for an estate tax charitable deduction. However, Congress concluded that1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 17">*25 such rule resulted in certain abuses. For example, the assets of such a trust might be invested in a manner so as to maximize the income interest with the result that there would be little relationship between the interest assumptions used in calculating the present value of the charitable remainder and the present value of the amount actually received by the charity. H. Rept. 91-413 (1969),
In order to correct these perceived abuses, 1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 17">*26 and to insure a closer correlation between the amount of the estate tax charitable deduction and the present value of the amount ultimately passing to charity, the Tax Reform Act of 1969 added
1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 17">*28 The petitioner views
Traditionally, to invalidate a taxing statute on the basis that the statute offends due process, it must be shown that Congress did a "wholly arbitrary thing," or "found equivalence where there was none" or that they "laid a burden unrelated to privilege."
The provisions of
Moreover, had the petitioner desired to obtain 1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 17">*31 an estate tax charitable deduction, albeit at the expense of losing the trust's flexibility, the trustee could have applied to the Oregon State courts to reform the trust so as to qualify it under
The next issue to be considered is whether the estate improperly failed to report certain dividends on the estate tax return. In his notice of deficiency, the Commissioner determined that dividends in the amount of $ 2,082 5 had been omitted from the estate tax return. In its brief, the estate argues, for the first time, that seven of such dividends were improperly included since the shareholder-of-record dates were after the decedent's date of death.
1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 17">*32 Where a dividend is paid after the decedent's death, but the declaration date and shareholder-of-record date are on or before the date of the decedent's death, such dividend is includable as a separate asset in the decedent's gross estate.
The petitioner generally has the burden of proof on issues raised in the notice of deficiency.
Moreover, it is well settled that this Court will not consider issues raised for the first time on brief when to do so prevents the opposing party from presenting evidence that he might have if the issue had been timely raised.
1. All statutory references are to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 as in effect during the year in issue, unless otherwise indicated.↩
2. A charitable remainder annuity trust is defined by
a trust --
(A) from which a sum certain (which is not less than 5 percent of the initial net fair market value of all property placed in trust) is to be paid, not less often than annually, to one or more persons (at least one of which is not an organization described in
(B) from which no amount other than the payments described in subparagraph (A) may be paid to or for the use of any person other than an organization described in
(C) following the termination of the payments described in subparagraph (A), the remainder interest in the trust is to be transferred to, or for the use of, an organization described in
3. A charitable remainder unitrust is defined by
a trust --
(A) from which a fixed percentage (which is not less than 5 percent) of the net fair market value of its assets, valued annually, is to be paid, not less often than annually, to one or more persons (at least one of which is not an organization described in
(B) from which no amount other than the payments described in subparagraph (A) may be paid to or for the use of any person other than an organization described in
(C) following the termination of the payments described in subparagraph (A), the remainder interest in the trust is to be transferred to, or for the use of, an organization described in
4. A pooled income fund is defined by
a trust --
(A) to which each donor transfers property, contributing an irrevocable remainder interest in such property to or for the use of an organization described in
(B) in which the property transferred by each donor is commingled with property transferred by other donors who have made or make similar transfers,
(C) which cannot have investments in securities which are exempt from the taxes imposed by this subtitle,
(D) which includes only amounts received from transfers which meet the requirements of this paragraph,
(E) which is maintained by the organization to which the remainder interest is contributed and of which no donor or beneficiary of an income interest is a trustee, and
(F) from which each beneficiary of an income interest receives income, for each year for which he is entitled to receive the income interest referred to in subparagraph (A), determined by the rate of return earned by the trust for such year.↩
5. Such amount was computed by using figures "rounded" to the nearest whole dollar amount. In the petition, the estate admitted that dividends in the amount of $ 2,081.55 had been omitted from the estate tax return, and we understand that the estate does not make an issue of the discrepancy between such amounts.↩
6. Generally, stocks trade "ex-dividend" 4 or 5 business days preceding the shareholder-of-record date fixed by the issuing corporation or preceding the date of the closing of the transfer books. See New York Stock Exchange rule 235.↩