Harris

Plaintiff Joseph W. Harris brings this aetion for recovery of $15,461.30, which he claims was erroneously and illegally assessed against him as income tax for the calendar year 1951 plus interest, and which he paid to the Director of Internal Revenue for the First District of California on June 29, 1956.

In a complaint for a divorce from his wife in January 1950, plaintiff asserted that all property standing in his name was his separate property and that there was no community property. Plaintiff’s wife, in her answer and cross-complaint, asserted that all of the property was community property and asked that all of *922 the property be awarded to her along with a divorce decree.

At the conclusion of the trial in the divorce action, the court granted plaintiff Joseph W. Harris a decree of divorce. The court also found that there was community property. After judgment in the divorce action, plaintiff and his wife entered into a property agreement which settled their controversy.

When plaintiff filed his income tax return for the calendar year 1951, he deducted from gross income $17,621 of the $21,071 which he had paid his attorneys and his accountant in the divorce action and…