Henslee v. Union Planters National Bank & Trust Co.

Summary

The Court held that the estate could not deduct the charitable remainder from the taxable estate because the trustees had unrestricted discretion to invade or consume the corpus for the mother’s pleasure, comfort, and welfare. The possibility of depletion was not presently ascertainable at the testator’s death, even though the mother was elderly, frugal, independently wealthy, and ultimately left the corpus intact. Justice Frankfurter, dissenting, would have affirmed the judgment below rather than extend the prior decision further.