Court Opinion

ID: 9656569
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:51:16.366198+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:33.280158
License: Public Domain

Clinton, J.,
concurring.
I concur in the result only. The majority opinion seems to say that there is no competent evidence from which a finding could be made that those persons designated as remainderman beneficiaries in the property known as the Commercial Center are entitled under *313Paragraph III (C) of the will to share the income from the Commercial Center during the lifetime of Virginia Reller. It further seems to imply that there must have been an actual distribution of income to the partners or credit on books of account in order to support a finding of a partnership in income. With this I disagree.
The filing of partnership income returns from 1950 through 1967 showing the income shares of the partners, together with the agreement of July 3, 1966, executed by Merril Reller and certain of the others, was, in my opinion, sufficient to support a finding that the “present method of conducting business rentals and division of profits” was a partnership in which the remainderman had an income interest.
There is evidence in the record which, if believed, would support a finding that it was not a bonafide partnership. I concur in the result because I believe the trial judge, who observed the witnesses and their manner of testifying, must have concluded on the basis of this evidence that there was in fact no partnership based on services accompanied by actual income sharing.