Estate of Powell: Stranger Than Strangi and Partially Fiction

In Estate of Powell,¹ issued on May 18, 2017, the U.S. Tax Court determined that cash and marketable securities transferred into a family limited partnership (FLP) under a power of attorney (POA) approximately one week before the taxpayer’s death were includible in the taxpayer’s gross estate under Internal Revenue Code Section 2036(a)(2). While the bad facts surrounding the transaction make this result unsurprising, the decision is notable because it