Opinion
18374-15
10-01-2021
Lawrence W. Nelson, III, Deceased, and Jacalyn A. Thompson, Petitioners v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent
ORDER
Joseph H. Gale Judge
Pending before the Court are respondent's Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Prosecution as to petitioner Lawrence W. Nelson, III, who died on July 15, 2017, and a proposed Stipulated Decision executed by respondent and petitioner Jacalyn A. Thompson, both of which were filed on October 16, 2020. By Order served June 4, 2021, the Court directed respondent and Ms. Thompson to file a joint report concerning the status of Mr. Nelson's estate and the identities and interests of his beneficiaries and heirs at law. In response to that Order, respondent and Ms. Thompson each filed a separate Status Report on August 18, 2021. Respondent's Status Report includes as Exhibits A-E copies of documents relating to Mr. Nelson's estate and to certain real property that petitioners owned prior to Mr. Nelson's death. Among those documents are Mr. Nelson's Last Will and Testament and a Trust Agreement Establishing the Nelson-Thompson Family Revocable Trust. Also among those documents, marked as Exhibit C, is a preliminary title report dated June 23, 2017, concerning real property located at 1240 Queens Road, Berkeley, CA 94708 (Berkeley Property).
Page 8 of Exhibit C identifies a lien recorded against the Berkeley Property in December 2016 for spousal or child support payments due from Lonnie Nelson to the County of Tulare in connection with Case No. VFS019198-95, filed in the Superior Court of California for the County of Tulare. From a review of the publicly available Superior Court docket, which lists the plaintiff as the County of Tulare and the defendant as Lonnie Nelson, it appears that the case related to the support of a minor child, Arianna N. Rivera.In addition, the copy of Mr. Nelson's death certificate attached to respondent's Motion to Dismiss states that he was known not only as Lawrence W. Nelson, III, but also as Lonnie Nelson. It thus appears that Mr. Nelson may have been the same person who was the defendant in the Superior Court case associated with the lien recorded against petitioners' property.
Ms. Rivera is no longer a minor. The Superior Court docket reveals that the case was filed in 1995, so Ms. Rivera would have reached the age of 18 no later than 2013.
Although the parties have previously represented to the Court that Mr. Nelson and Ms. Thompson had one child together, the possibility that Mr. Nelson might have had another child has not previously been brought to the Court's attention. For example, in a Status Report filed September 19, 2017, respondent stated that Ms. Thompson had informed him that she and her daughter, Brittany Thompson, were Mr. Nelson's heirs at law and that she did not believe her daughter would be willing to serve as special administrator of Mr. Nelson's estate for purposes of this case. Similarly, the Status Reports that respondent and Ms. Thompson filed on August 18, 2021, each identify only Ms. Thompson and her daughter, Brittany Thompson, as Mr. Nelson's beneficiaries.
In view of the possibility that Ms. Rivera is also a child of Mr. Nelson and thus may be his beneficiary or heir at law, see Cal. Prob. Code secs. 44, 50, 6402(a), 21601, 21620, 21621 (West, Westlaw through 2021 Reg. Sess. Ch. 172), we will direct respondent to attempt to locate Ms. Rivera and to provide to the Court any mailing address or telephone number for her that he may be able to identify. See Nordstrom v. Commissioner, 50 T.C. 30, 32 (1968).
Finally, we note that respondent declines to comment in his most recent Status Report on the status of Mr. Nelson's estate or any probate thereof, or the interests of Mr. Nelson's beneficiaries or heirs. Although Ms. Thompson's Status Report makes representations to the effect that Mr. Nelson's estate is insolvent, that his Last Will and Testament has not been probated, and that no property was transferred to the Nelson-Thompson Family Revocable Trust, we are not satisfied that the documents the parties have submitted for our review adequately substantiate Ms. Thompson's representations. Therefore, we will direct Ms. Thompson to file an affidavit setting forth the facts known to her concerning the solvency of Mr. Nelson's estate, the commencement of any probate proceeding, the funding of the Nelson-Thompson Family Revocable Trust, and the existence or whereabouts of Ms. Rivera.
Respondent previously stated in his Status Report filed September 19, 2017, that Ms. Thompson had told him that, at that time, the estate had not been probated "and that she was unsure whether it will be probated."
The foregoing considered, it is
ORDERED that respondent shall file a status report on or before November 10, 2021, setting forth any address or telephone number that he is able to locate for Arianna N. Rivera or, in the alternative, a description of his efforts to locate such an address or telephone number. It is further
ORDERED that petitioner Jacalyn A. Thompson shall, on or before November 10, 2021, file an affidavit which shall be duly executed under penalty of perjury and shall state as follows, if such be the case: (1) that the estate of Lawrence W. Nelson, III, has no assets; (2) that Mr. Nelson's Last Will and Testament has not been, and will not be, submitted for probate; (3) that no property of any kind has been transferred to the Nelson-Thompson Family Revocable Trust; and (4) whether Ms. Thompson has any knowledge as to the existence or whereabouts of Arianna N. Rivera.