Estate of Judith U. Harrison - Page 12




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               More recently, this Court considered the issue in Estate of            
          Marks v. Commissioner, supra at 727-729, and held, as before,               
          that “the deemed surviving spouse is not entitled to the section            
          2013 credit in a simultaneous death situation.”  We indicated               
          that the surviving spouse’s interest was “too ephemeral to be               
          accorded value”.  Id. at 729.  Likewise, the Court of Appeals for           
          the Fifth Circuit ruled in Estate of Carter v. United States,               
          supra at 64, that an interest “passed between persons dying in a            
          common disaster has no value and thus that the taxpayer is                  
          entitled to no credit.”  The court once again emphasized that               
          “‘recognized valuation principles’” in section 20.2013-4(a),                
          Estate Tax Regs., “does not refer exclusively to the actuarial              
          tables” and stated that “The paradigm ‘unusual circumstance’ in             
          which mortality tables have not been employed is the simultaneous           
          death of the transferor and transferee.”  Id. at 66 & n.6, 67.              
          IV.  Interpretation and Application                                         
               Given the foregoing authority, we first consider whether the           
          principles developed in simultaneous death situations arising               
          prior to the enactment of section 7520 in 1988, see Technical and           
          Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-647, 102 Stat.               
          3342, retain their validity under the current statutory and                 
          regulatory regime.  If so, we must then decide whether the case             
          at bar is to be treated as a simultaneous death situation.                  








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