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Petitioner contends that the legal proceedings against the
Portland School District were necessary to secure access to
medical treatment for his son and that Gerstacker v.
Commissioner, supra, is controlling. In Gerstacker, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, to which this case is
appealable, held that where involuntary commitment of a patient
is necessary to render medical treatment, the legal expenses that
are necessary for the commitment proceeding are deductible
medical expenses. The taxpayer wife had a history of mental and
emotional problems. On two prior occasions, the wife ran away
from treatment facilities after being voluntarily hospitalized.
Doctors advised the husband that his wife could not be
successfully treated unless she was involuntarily confined and
recommended that the taxpayer-husband institute guardianship
proceedings over his wife, which led to her involuntary
confinement and medical treatment for her mental and emotional
condition. Both the husband and wife hired attorneys in the
guardianship proceedings whose legal fees were deducted by the
taxpayers as medical expenses.
3(...continued)
the school was necessary to treat his medical condition. The
costs of a special school for mentally or physically disabled
persons is a deductible medical expense if the principal reason
for attending the school is to alleviate the disability. Fay v.
Commissioner, 76 T.C. 408 (1981); sec. 1.213-1(e)(1)(v)(a),
Income Tax Regs. The deductible costs include meals, lodging,
and education provided by the school that are incidental to the
special services performed. Fay v. Commissioner, supra.
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