Russel v. Lee, Trustee Under Declaration of Trust Dated March 19, 1970 v. W. Michael Blumenthal, Secretary of the Treasury, and the United States

The plaintiff filed an action under 28 U.S.C. § 1361 , seeking a writ of mandamus to compel the Secretary of the Treasury to redeem certain bonds. The district court issued the writ. We reverse and remand to the district court with directions to dismiss or transfer to the Court of Claims.

The facts are undisputed. In 1970 the plaintiff and his wife created a revocable inter vivos trust, and transferred to the trust sufficient community property to purchase flower bonds with a face value of $200,000.00. Flower bonds derive from the Second Liberty Bond Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 752 , 754(b), and can be redeemed at par prior to maturity if used to pay the owner’s estate tax. Plaintiff and his wife were co-trustees; the bonds, which were the trust’s only asset, were registered to the plaintiff and his wife as co-trustees. The trust instrument provided that the income was to be paid to the plaintiff and his wife, as individuals, until one of them should die. The remaining trustee was then to pay the estate taxes with the bonds, and any remainder was to be used for the estate taxes of the surviving spouse, and the excess remainder, if any, was to go to a medical research foundation.

In 1972,…