Monday, March 26, 2012

Subcommittee Approves Inheritance Tax Bill

In a last-minute move today, Republican legislators took a big step toward fully repealing Tennessee's inheritance tax when the House Finance Subcommittee voted by unanimous voice vote to increase the exemption on the tax from $1 million to $1.25 million. But rather than increase the exemption over one year, as originally proposed, legislators opted for a multi-year approach, phasing in the full increase through 2016.

Read the full story at The Nashville Business Journal.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Court determines to whom a tax refund should have been awarded

THE ESTATE OF NOEL C. HUNT, III, H. WAYNE GRANT, EXECUTOR v. TRISHA L. JOLLEY HUNT (Tenn. Ct. App. March 16, 2012)


Appellant Estate sought declaratory judgment against Appellee widow for return of proceeds from the widow and Decedent’s jointly filed federal and state tax returns. The Estate contends that, under an Antenuptial Agreement entered by and between Decedent and Appellee, the income tax refunds were Decedent’s separate property, which thus belong to the Estate. Appellee widow contends that the filing of a joint tax return transmuted the separate property into marital property and, in the alternative, that a tenancy by the entirety was created in the tax refunds.

The trial court found that, although the tax refunds were Decedent’s separate property under the Antenuptial Agreement, part of those proceeds should, nonetheless, pass to the wife. We conclude that the filing of a joint tax return does not create a property right, and that a tenancy by the entirety was not established. Consequently, as Decedent’s separate property, the tax refunds should have been awarded to the Estate. Reversed and remanded.

Opinion available at:
https://www.tba.org/sites/default/files/huntn_031612.pdf

Monday, March 12, 2012

Court reviews whether the executors' brother filed a meritless claim against his mother's estate.

E. JAY MOUNGER ET AL. v. CHARLES D. MOUNGER, JR. ET AL. (Tenn. Ct. App. March 12, 2012)

The plaintiffs, in their capacity as executors of their mother’s estate, filed this action against their brother alleging that he caused the estate to lose the sale of a valuable piece of lakefront property by maliciously asserting a meritless claim to a portion of the property. The defendant represented himself in a jury trial. The jury awarded the estate $6,000,000. The defendant appeals the judgment entered on the jury’s verdict. We affirm.

Opinion available at:
https://www.tba.org/sites/default/files/moungere_031212.pdf