Bethea v. Sheppard’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 6 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““We are in accord with the construction placed upon the joint will and trust instrument by the trial court and its conclusion that the net value of the corpus of the trust estate in suit was taxable upon the death of the grantor. That is, we construe the instrument as conclusively showing the intention of grantor or settlor to withhold the full or complete possession or enjoyment of the trust estate, except the annuity payable to appellant primarily out of the revenues, from appellant until after the death of grantor, or until eight years after her death. The trust instrument expressly provides that the ‘remainder’ of the estate ‘shall not be distributed’ during the lifetime of grantor, and not ‘until the expiration of eight years after her death.’ The transfer or right of possession or enjoyment of the remainder of the trust estate was made contingent upon appellant’s surviving the grantor, which necessarily fixed appellant’s rights at or after the death of grantor.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Scofield v. Bethea

2. “Under the Federal Estate Tax Law, the primary question to determine is when the decedent or grantor parted with all property rights. Under our State Inheritance or Succession Tax Statute, the primary question is whether the transfer was made or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment after the death of grantor.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hansen v. Blackmon