- 10 - person other than the surviving spouse or his or her estate, and (3) the person to whom the interest passes may possess or enjoy any part of the property after the interest passing to the surviving spouse terminates or fails. Sec. 2056(b)(1); Estate of Abely v. Commissioner, 60 T.C. 120, 122 (1973), affd. 489 F.2d 1327 (1st Cir. 1974); see also Estate of Cunha v. Commissioner, 279 F.2d 292, 296 (9th Cir. 1960), affg. 30 T.C. 812 (1958). An interest is usually not terminable when the surviving spouse receives a life estate and a general power of appointment over it. Sec. 2056(b)(5); Estate of Meeske v. Commissioner, 72 T.C. 73, 77 (1979), affd. sub nom. Estate of Laurin v. Commissioner, 645 F.2d 8 (6th Cir. 1981). An interest passing from a decedent to his or her surviving spouse may qualify for the marital deduction when the surviving spouse: (1) Is entitled for life to all income from that interest, payable at least annually and (2) has a general power of appointment over the interest which is exercisable in all events by the surviving spouse alone, either by will or during life. Estate of Meeske v. Commissioner, supra at 77; see sec. 20.2056(b)-5(a), Estate Tax Regs. A spouse has the right to income for life if, under the terms of the trust, the spouse has a right, exercisable at least annually, to receive distributions of income, or the income must be accumulated and added to corpus over which the spouse has a power of appointment. Sec. 20.2056(b)-5(f)(8), Estate Tax Regs. A surviving spouse does not have the right to all income if: (1) The income must be accumulated, in whole or in part, or mayPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Next
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