Estate of John T. Sobota, Deceased, T.J. Sobota, Personal Representative - Page 4

                                        - 4 -                                         
          for deciding the Federal estate tax consequences thereof.                   
          Helvering v. Stuart, 317 U.S. 154, 162 (1942); Greene v. United             
          States, 476 F.2d 116, 117-118 (7th Cir. 1973); Estate of                    
          Richardson v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. 1193, 1201 (1987).2  We apply           
          Wisconsin law as announced by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, or,           
          if there is no decision by that highest court, we apply what we             
          conclude that court would decide, giving proper regard to the               
          decisions of other courts of the State.  Commissioner v. Estate             
          of Bosch, 387 U.S. 456, 465 (1967).                                         
               Wisconsin Statutes Annotated, section 701.20(5) (West 1981),           
          provides:                                                                   
                    * * * (a) Unless the will otherwise provides * * *                
               administration expenses shall be charged against the                   
               principal of the estate.                                               
                    (b) Unless the will otherwise provides, income                    
               from the assets of a decedent's estate after the death                 
               of the decedent and before distribution, including                     
               income from property used to discharge liabilities,                    
               legacies and devises, shall be determined in accordance                
               with the rules applicable to a trustee under this                      
               section and distributed as follows:                                    
                    1.   To legatees and devisees of specific property                
               other than money, the income from the property                         


          2  There is a suggestion in the opinion of the Court of Appeals             
          for the Sixth Circuit in Estate of Street v. Commissioner, 974              
          F.2d 723, 728 (6th Cir. 1992), affg. in part, revg. in part, and            
          remanding T.C. Memo. 1988-553, that the question of chargeability           
          of administration expenses is one of Federal not State law, and             
          that sec. 20.2056(b)-4(a), Estate Tax Regs., controls "regardless           
          of state law or the dictates of decedent's will".  This                     
          suggestion is contrary to the decided cases and particularly to             
          the view we expressed in Estate of Hubert v. Commissioner, 101              
          T.C. 314 (1993), affd. 63 F.3d 1083 (11th Cir. 1995), cert.                 
          granted 517 U.S.    , 116 S. Ct. 1564 (1996).                               




Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011