United States v. Tyler, No. 12-2034, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 11722 (3rd Cir. Jun. 11, 2013)

(married couple owned real estate as tenants by the entirety; husband owed IRS $436,849 in income tax; husband transferred his interest in the real estate to his wife for $1; IRS then placed lien on the real estate; husband died with no distributable assets and no other assets with which to pay tax lien; surviving spouse died within year after husband’s death and property passed to son, defendant in this case; son was named as a co-executor of mother’s estate;  IRS claimed that tax lien applied to real estate before legal title passed to mother and that executors had to satisfy lien out of assets of mother’s estate; executors conveyed real estate to son for a dollar after receiving letters from IRS asserting lien; son later sold real estate and invested proceeds in stock market, subsequently losing his investment; IRS brought collection action for 50 percent of sale proceeds from executors under federal claims statute (31 U.S.C. §3713 via I.R.C. §6901(a)(1)(B)); trial court ruled for IRS and appellate court affirmed; under federal claims statute, executor has personal liability for debts and obligations of decedent, and fiduciary that disposes of assets of estate before paying government claim is liable to extent of payment for unpaid governmental claims if fiduciary distributes assets of estate, distribution rendered estate insolvent, and distribution took place after fiduciary had actual or constructive knowledge of liability for unpaid taxes).