Bradham v. United States

• Decision Date: 18 July 1968
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 1168.
• Citation: 287 F. Supp. 10
• Parties: Donald E. BRADHAM, Administrator with Will Annexed of the Estate of E. G. Bradham, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Arkansas

287 F. Supp. 10

Donald E. BRADHAM, Administrator with Will Annexed of the Estate of E. G. Bradham, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 1168.

United States District Court W. D. Arkansas, El Dorado Division.

July 18, 1968.

A. G. Sanderson, Jr., Texarkana, Ark., Smilie Watkins, Texarkana, Tex., for plaintiff.

Mitchell Rogovin, Asst. Atty. Gen. Washington, D. C., by Myron C. Baum and John O. Jones, Washington, D. C., Charles M. Conway, U. S. Atty., Fort Smith, Ark., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

OREN HARRIS, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff Donald E. Bradham as Administrator of the Estate of E. G. Bradham, Deceased, brings this action to recover federal estate taxes in the sum of $71,441.02 alleged to have been erroneously assessed and collected by the United States. In filing a federal estate tax return on behalf of the estate the plaintiff claimed a marital deduction, which was disallowed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenues. The sum involved herein was assessed against the estate and paid by the plaintiff.

The facts in the case are not in dispute and are stipulated. A brief statement is sufficient for the purpose of determining the issues in this proceeding.

E. G. Bradham, a resident of Union County, Arkansas, died testate on February 13, 1962. His will dated November 12, 1953, was admitted to probate in the Probate Court of Union County, Arkansas. Decedent was married to the surviving widow, Rubye R. Bradham, November 6, 1961, which was eight years subsequent to the execution of his will. He is survived by four children of a prior marriage named in the will as his sole devisees.

The surviving widow, Rubye R. Bradham, filed formal election in the probate proceeding to renounce and take against the will as provided by the statutes of Arkansas. In February, 1963, the surviving widow petitioned the Chancery Court of Union County, Arkansas, to adjudicate that the real property owned by decedent at the time of his death was not susceptible to division in kind; that her dower interest therein could not be allotted without great prejudice; that such real property be ordered sold free of her dower interest therein; and the then present money value of her dower interest be determined by the court and paid to her in cash out of the proceeds of said sale in lieu of her dower interest in said property. She also requested the court to adjudicate her rights in various other properties of decedent.

The surviving children filed an answer in the proceedings and the issues were tried to the Chancery Court on February 22, 1963. Upon trial on the merits, and after the court had considered the pleadings, evidence and arguments of counsel, the court found that the lands of decedent in Arkansas were not capable of division in kind and that the widow's dower interest therein could not be allotted in kind without great prejudice to the widow and the four children of decedent. It ordered the lands to be sold in accordance with Arkansas Statutes, Annotated (1947), Sec. 62-717, and that the present money value of the widow's dower interest therein be computed in accordance with the statutory tables set out in Arkansas Statutes, Annotated (1947), Sec. 50-704. There were other findings of the court relative to personal property and oil and gas interests owned by decedent in which the widow claimed a dower interest.

Instead of the land being sold and the widow being allotted her commuted dower interest out of the proceeds subsequent to such findings of the court, the widow stipulated with the four children of the decedent that the Arkansas lands in which the widow had a dower interest had a value of $698,492.87. Upon stipulation being filed with the court a decree was entered by the court awarding the widow $161,631.28 in lieu of her statutory dower in said lands, which sum was paid to the widow in open court.

The decedent at the time of his death owned substantial lands subject to the Chancery Court proceeding consisting of numerous tracts in the Counties of Little River, Miller, Union and Columbia in the State of Arkansas. These tracts of land were separate and widely scattered parcels, subject to diverse uses, and were of diverse kinds and of different qualities. The decedent did not own all of the oil, gas and other minerals under all of the tracts. The ownership of the oil, gas and other minerals under said tracts of land were not uniform. Because these lands were subject to such diverse uses and so scattered the mineral ownerships thereunder were not uniform, the tracts of land were not divisible or susceptible to division in kind and the widow's dower interest therein could not be allotted in kind without great prejudice to the children of decedent and the widow.

The plaintiff filed a United States Estate Tax Return which reflected the federal estate taxes to be $715,008.89. The plaintiff claimed the sum of $161,631.28 received by the decedent's widow as a marital deduction, deductible from the value of decedent's gross estate as the value of an interest in property which passed from decedent to his spouse, allowable as such a deduction under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, especially Section 2056 thereof, and under the applicable regulations promulgated thereunder.

The District Director of Internal Revenue in auditing the plaintiff's estate tax return assessed a deficiency in estate taxes against plaintiff in the aggregate of $326,959.88, which plaintiff paid with interest on February 8, 1967. On June 15, 1967, the plaintiff filed a claim for refund for $71,441.02 and interest with the District Director of Internal Revenue in Little Rock, Arkansas. On September 12, 1967, the District Director disallowed the claim in full.

Exhibits 1 to 8, inclusive, are filed as a part of the stipulation of facts. These include the Last Will and Statement of E. G. Bradham, Deceased, Widow's Notice of Election to Take Against the Will, Complaint filed in the Chancery Court of Union County, Arkansas, with Inventory of the Estate of Decedent, Answer thereto, Decree of the Court, Stipulation as to Market Value of the Lands, Final Decree of the Court, and Claim Filed with the District Director of Internal Revenue.

Since all issues of fact raised by the pleadings in this case are settled by stipulation, the only issue to be decided by the court is a question of law, as to whether the commuted value of the widow's dower in decedent's Arkansas lands awarded her by the Chancery Court of Union County, Arkansas, in the amount of $161,631.28 in lieu of her dower interest, qualify for the marital deduction under the provisions of 26 U.S.C. § 2056.

For determination of this question the court looks to the Arkansas Statutes as applicable to Sec. 2056¹ of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, which provides an allowance of marital deduction on federal estate taxes imposed by 26 U.S.C. § 2001.

The Arkansas Statutes, Annotated (1947) applicable to this issue provides —

Sec. 61-201. Dower in lands. — A widow shall be endowed of the third part of all the lands whereof her husband was seized, of an estate of inheritance, at any time during the marriage, unless the same shall have been relinquished in legal form.

Sec. 60-501. When surviving spouse may elect to take against the will. — When a married man dies testate as to any part of his estate, or when a married woman dies leaving as her last will one executed prior to her marriage, the surviving spouse shall have the right to elect to take against the will and to take such part of the property as he or she would have taken had the deceased spouse died intestate.

Sec. 62-701. Heir at law to assign dower. — It shall be the duty of the heir at law of any estate of which the widow is entitled to dower, to lay off and assign such dower as soon as practicable after the death of the husband of such widow.

Sec. 62-704. Widow's petition for allotment of dower — Contents — Notice. — If dower be not assigned to the widow within one 1 year after the death of her husband, or within three 3 months after demand made therefor, she may file in the court of probate, or in the clerk's office thereof, in vacation, a written petition, in which a description of the lands in which she claims dower, the names of those having interest therein and the amount of such interest shall be briefly stated in ordinary language, with a prayer for the allotment of dower; and thereupon all persons interested in the property shall be summoned to appear and answer the petition on the first day of the next term of the court.

Sec. 62-717. Sale of property — Dower paid from proceeds. — In proceedings had in circuit probate court, for the allotment of dower, when it shall appear to the court that dower can not be alloted out of the real estate without great prejudice to the widow or heirs, and that it will be most to the interest of such parties that said real estate may be sold, the court may decree a sale of the real estate free from such dower, and that such portion of the proceeds may be paid to the widow in lieu thereof, or her interest therein otherwise secured as to the court may seem equitable and just.

Sec. 50-701. Purpose of act. — The purpose of this act §§ 50-701—50-706 is to establish a simple and accurate method for computing the present value of both vested life and remainder interests in property through the use of actuarial tables. Nothing contained in this act is intended (1) to provide when a court shall order a life interest commuted and so payable in gross, or (2) to change the existing jurisdiction of the courts under which such a decree requiring commutation may issue.

No question is raised with reference to applicable procedures as provided by the statutes or the finding and decisions of the Chancery Court of Union County, Arkansas.

Chancery Courts in Arkansas have concurrent jurisdiction with Probate Courts for the assignment and allotment of dower. Art. 7, Sec. 15...