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Commissioner v. Stern, 357 U.S. 39 (1958)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Commissioner v. Stern, 357 U.S. 39 (1958)
Commissioner v. Stern No. 311 Argued April 7, 1958 Decided June 9, 1958 357 U.S. 39
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
Because the assets of the estate of respondent’s husband were insufficient to meet his liability for income tax deficiencies found to have been due before his death, the Commissioner proceeded under § 311 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 against respondent as the beneficiary of life insurance policies held by him and on which he had retained the right to change the beneficiaries and to draw down the cash surrender values. There were no findings that he had paid any of the premiums with intent to defraud his creditors, or that he was insolvent at any time prior to his death, and no tax lien had attached.
Held: the laws of Kentucky, where respondent and her husband resided, govern the question of respondent’s liability, and create no liability of respondent to the Government in the circumstances of this case. Pp. 40-47.
1. Section 311 neither creates nor defines a substantive liability, but merely provides a new procedure by which the Government may collect taxes. Pp. 42-44.
2. There being no federal statute creating or defining liability of respondent in this case, and Congress having manifested no desire for uniformity of liability, the creation of federal decisional law to further uniformity of liability in such cases would be unwarranted, and the existence and extent of liability should be determined by state law until Congress speaks to the contrary. Pp. 44-45.
3. Congress having imposed no liability on respondent and no tax lien having attached, the Government’s substantive rights in this case are precisely those which other creditors would have under Kentucky law, and respondent is not liable to the Government because Kentucky law imposes no liability against respondent in favor of her husband’s creditors in the circumstances of this case. Pp. 45-47.
242 F. 2d 322 affirmed.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Commissioner v. Stern, 357 U.S. 39 (1958) in 357 U.S. 39 357 U.S. 40. Original Sources, accessed November 25, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=MKJJE5XRGN1PMIK.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Commissioner v. Stern, 357 U.S. 39 (1958), in 357 U.S. 39, page 357 U.S. 40. Original Sources. 25 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=MKJJE5XRGN1PMIK.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Commissioner v. Stern, 357 U.S. 39 (1958). cited in 1958, 357 U.S. 39, pp.357 U.S. 40. Original Sources, retrieved 25 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=MKJJE5XRGN1PMIK.
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