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Commissioner v. Estate of Bosch, 387 U.S. 456 (1967); Estate of
Rowan v. Commissioner, 54 T.C. 633 (1970).
In the present situation, Anne Street Skipper, then
coadministratrix, sued in the Texas State courts to recover all
the insurance proceeds that her late father had designated to be
payable to his estate. In a fully contested jury trial, she won
a complete victory. The Texas Court of Appeals affirmed, as we
have related above, and the Supreme Court of Texas refused to
entertain a writ of error. We think it is now clear, as
elucidated in the opinion of the Texas Court of Appeals, quoted
in our findings, that although life insurance policies purchased
with community funds during life may be community property in
Texas, the insured-owner of such policies has the right to
designate someone other than his spouse as the sole beneficiary,
and, if so, upon death the insurance proceeds are removed from
the regime of community property, and the surviving wife may take
nothing under those policies, so long as it is clear that there
is no fraud upon the wife.
The Texas courts so held in this matter, and we think this
is a correct exposition of Texas law, and we shall follow it.
Decedent, in designating his estate as a beneficiary of the life
insurance that had been acquired with community funds, removed
the wife's interest in the insurance at death from the regime of
community property. He avoided a fraud by making ample other
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