- 15 -
for amounts paid by Bell for the Cavett family or compensation
for companionship or other specific services.
The parties agree that the test of whether a transfer
constitutes a gift is whether the transfer proceeds from a
“detached and disinterested generosity * * * out of affection,
respect, admiration, charity or like impulses”. Commissioner v.
Duberstein, 363 U.S. 278, 285 (1960). Petitioners do not
challenge the contested Bell gifts on a payment-by-payment basis
but direct our attention to three documents written by or
prepared for decedent, which, petitioners argue, establish that
the contested Bell gifts did not flow from a detached and
disinterested generosity (i.e., are not gifts). Those documents
are: (1) An agreement to make a will executed by Bell and
decedent (the Agreement), which, petitioners argue, establishes
the employment relationship between Bell and decedent, (2)
decedent’s 1981 will (the 1981 will), which provides that Bell
shall be compensated for caring for decedent’s invalid adult
daughter, and (3) annotations in the ledgers, which, only in some
cases, specify that the transfer was a gift. Petitioners
acknowledge that there existed a “close and affectionate
relationship” between Bell and decedent. Petitioners argue:
“However, the relationship between the decedent and Bell was more
complicated and included an employment relationship between these
two individuals.”
Page: Previous 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011