Helvering v. Fuller’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

59 federal appellate · 3 district · 21 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 175 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““If respondent had not placed the shares of stock in trust but had transferred them outright to his wife as part of the property settlement, there seems to be no doubt that income subsequently accrued and paid therein would be taxable to the wife, not to him. Under the present statutory scheme that case would be no different from one where any debtor, voluntarily or under the compulsion of a court decree, transfers securities, a farm, an office building, or the like, to his creditor in whole or partial payment of his debt. Certainly, it could not be claimed that income thereafter accruing from the transferred property must be included in the debtor’s income tax return. If the debtor retained no right or interest in and to the property, he would cease to be the owner for purposes of the federal revenue acts. * * * To hold that a different result necessarily obtains where the transfer is made or the trust is created as part of a property settlement attendant on a divorce would be to hold that for purposes of the federal income tax the marital obligation of the husband to support his wife cannot be discharged. But whether or not it can be depends on state law. * * * The Nevada cases tell us that under such a decree as was entered here the obliga tion to support was pro tanto discharged and ended. And the trust argeement contains no contractual undertaking by respondent, contingent or otherwise, for support of the wife. Hence we can only conclude that respondent’s personal obliga”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Nicolai v. Commissioner · Spruance v. Director of Revenue

2. ““* * * It seems to be admitted that under Nevada law the wife’s allowance once made is final * * * unless the decree itself expressly reserves the power to modify it * * * or unless the decree approves a settlement which in turn provides for a modification. * * *””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Daggett v. Commissioner

3. “it seems clear that local law and the trust have given the respondent pro tanto a full discharge from his duty to support his divorced wife and leave no continuing obligation, contingent or otherwise,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Burton v. Commissioner