Estate of Lumpkin v. Commissioner

474 F.2d 1092 (1973)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
E
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Estate of Lumpkin v. Commissioner

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
474 F.2d 1092 (1973)

Facts

James H. Lumpkin, Jr., was insured through his employer, which provided a group term life-insurance policy for all its employees. The employer dictated that the beneficiaries of the life-insurance policy were an employee’s surviving spouse, minor children, or parents, in that order. Lumpkin could not change the beneficiaries. Lumpkin could, however, defer distributions of the life-insurance proceeds, or otherwise negotiate the timing of distributions with the employer and insurance provider. After Lumpkin’s death, Lumpkin’s estate (plaintiff) did not include the proceeds of the life-insurance policy in Lumpkin’s gross estate when filing the estate-tax return. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (defendant) determined that the estate was deficient for estate taxes because it should have included the proceeds of the life-insurance policy. The estate petitioned for a redetermination of the taxes with the United States Tax Court, and that court found that the life-insurance proceeds did not need to be included in the gross estate. The IRS appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Gewin, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 821,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 821,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 989 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 821,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 989 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Federal Income Tax

Key Terms