26 U.S.C. § 2044
Section 2044 · Certain property for which marital deduction was previously allowed
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 51 court decisions — leading case Estate of Bonner v. United States (1996)
Most recently applied in Estate of Evans v. Dept. of Rev. (July 2021)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The value of the gross estate shall include the value of any property to which this section applies in which the decedent had a qualifying income interest for life.
This section applies to any property if—
(1) a deduction was allowed with respect to the transfer of such property to the decedent—
(A) under section 2056 by reason of subsection (b)(7) thereof, or
(B) under section 2523 by reason of subsection (f) thereof, and
(2) section 2519 (relating to dispositions of certain life estates) did not apply with respect to a disposition by the decedent of part or all of such property.
For purposes of this chapter and chapter 13, property includible in the gross estate of the decedent under subsection (a) shall be treated as property passing from the decedent.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 2044 was renumbered section 2045 of this title.
Amendments
1983—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 97–448 added subsec. (c).
Effective Date of 1983 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 97–448 effective, except as otherwise provided, as if it had been included in the provision of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, Pub. L. 97–34, to which such amendment relates, see section 109 of Pub. L. 97–448, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.
Effective Date
Section applicable to estates of decedents dying after Dec. 31, 1981, see section 403(e) of Pub. L. 97–34, set out as an Effective Date of 1981 Amendment note under section 2056 of this title.