Sharon Purcell DiLeonardo - Page 19




                                       - 19 -                                         
          as such.  See id. at 56.  The Supreme Court pointed out that                
          Patrick is similar to Gilmore, summarizing its analysis (ibid.)             
          as follows:                                                                 
               The principles held governing in that case are equally                 
               applicable here.  It is evident that the claims asserted by            
               the wife in the divorce action arose from respondent’s [the            
               taxpayer’s] marital relationship with her and were thus the            
               product of respondent’s personal or family life, not profit-           
               seeking activity.  As we have held in Gilmore, payments made           
               for the purpose of discharging such claims are not                     
               deductible as “business” [i.e., sec. 212(2)] expenses.                 
               The Supreme Court in Patrick then commented as follows (id.            
          at 57):                                                                     
                    We find no significant distinction in the fact that the           
               legal fees for which deduction is claimed were paid for                
               arranging a transfer of stock interests, leasing real                  
               property, and creating a trust [in Patrick] rather than for            
               conducting litigation [as in Gilmore].  These matters were             
               incidental to litigation brought by respondent’s wife, whose           
               claims arising from respondent’s personal and family life              
               were the origin of the property arrangements.  * * *                   
               We note that the Supreme Court in Patrick did not even                 
          bother to discuss another difference between Patrick and                    
          Gilmore–-in Gilmore, the taxpayer won his divorce case and his              
          sought-for deductions were only for his expenses; in Patrick,               
          half of the taxpayer’s sought-for deductions were for expenses of           
          his wife, which the taxpayer paid under compulsion of the local             
          court order.                                                                
               In the instant case, petitioner’s claimed deductions arose             
          from her payment of the relevant expenses of the other                      
          beneficiaries, the Trustee, and the guardian ad litem.                      







Page:  Previous  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011