Sowder

MEMORANDUM **

The United States government appeals the district court’s determination that Tony R. Sowder’s estate (“the estate”) qualifies for the marital deduction under Section 2056(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

The district court did not err in holding that Mr. Sowder’s estate qualifies for the marital deduction based on the law of the case. Our holding and remand in a prior appeal indicated that extrinsic evidence of Mr. Sowder’s testamentary intent is dis-positive. The district court also did not err in holding that Mr. Sowder intended to create a marital deduction.

In the previous appeal the government challenged the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the estate. The government argued, among other things, that we should not rely on extrinsic evidence to affirm the grant of summary judgment without first remanding to allow the government to conduct discovery necessary to rebut the estate’s evidence. The government also argued that federal estate tax law preempted the Washington statutes on which the district court had relied.

*446 In a memorandum disposition, we reversed and…