TRUSTS-STOCK DIVIDENDS-APPORTIONMENT BETWEEN LIFE ESTATE AND CORPUS

Authors

Abstract

The will of the testator gave his widow a life estate in all his property. The estate contained, inter alia, shares of the capital stock of a corporation. After several years the corporation was dissolved, and a "dissolution dividend" was declared which distributed to each stockholder a pro rata share of the proceeds of the sale of all the assets of the corporation. The question in the case was whether any, and if so, how much, of this dividend was to go to the life tenant. It was shown that the earnings of the corporation had been paid out regularly in dividends, so the dividend in question represented solely the capital assets of the corporation. Held, this dividend was really a distribution of assets, and not of surplus or earnings, and became part of the corpus of the estate. In re Etzel's Estate (Iowa 1931) 234 N.W. 210.

Recommended Citation

TRUSTS-STOCK DIVIDENDS-APPORTIONMENT BETWEEN LIFE ESTATE AND CORPUS, 29 Mich. L. Rev. 953 (1931).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol29/iss7/40