Estate of Lucille Abbott Sexton, Deceased, Ann Sexton Peterson, Executor - Page 17




                                       - 17 -                                         
               After the settlement, the estate, under the guidance of a              
          new attorney, wishes to advance a theory that the $929,350 was a            
          nontaxable capital contribution--a theory that was not advanced,            
          prior to the settlement, on the estate tax return, by the                   
          estate’s accountant or by the estate’s attorney.  The estate, on            
          brief, has also provided several legal theories that it believes            
          show it would be successful if the agreed decision were vacated             
          and it were allowed to proceed to trial.                                    
               In terms of a judgment entered by consent of the parties,              
          “the parties are held to their agreement without regard to                  
          whether the judgment is correct on the merits.”  Stamm Intl.                
          Corp. v. Commissioner, 90 T.C. 315, 322 (and cases cited                    
          therein).  We note that in Stamm this Court enforced a settlement           
          of the issues in which the amount of tax had not yet been                   
          calculated or reduced to a decision document.  In that case, the            
          Government sought to be relieved from the settlement agreement              
          because of its unilateral error about the amount of tax resulting           
          from the settlement agreement.  In holding that the Government              
          would not be relieved from its agreement, we explained that the             
          standards for vacating a settlement agreement are “akin to those            
          involved in vacating a judgment entered by consent.”  Id. at 322;           
          see also Quinones v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1988-269.  (The               
          Government was not relieved from its stipulated                             
          decision even though it was believed by the Government that it              






Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011