North Carolina Dept. of Revenue v. Kimberley Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust

Decided June 21, 2019. Sonia Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 18-457 · 588 U.S. 262 (2019) · Cited 43 times

Holding

The presence of in-state beneficiaries alone does not empower a State to tax trust income that has not been distributed to the beneficiaries where the beneficiaries have no right to demand that income and are uncertain to receive it.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Safe Deposit & Trust Co. of Baltimore v. Virginia · 280 U.S. 83 (1929)
• Curry v. McCanless · 307 U.S. 357 (1939)
• Quill Corp. v. North Dakota Ex Rel. Heitkamp · 504 U.S. 298 (1992)
• International Shoe Co. v. Washington · 326 U.S. 310 (1945)
• Hanson v. Denckla · 357 U.S. 235 (1958)
• Stone v. White · 301 U.S. 532 (1937)
• Wisconsin v. J. C. Penney Co. · 311 U.S. 435 (1941)
• Miller Brothers Co. v. Maryland · 347 U.S. 340 (1954)
• South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. · 585 U.S. 162 (2018)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Anderson v. Wilson · 289 U.S. 20 (1933)
• Fondren v. Commissioner · 324 U.S. 18 (1945)
• Commissioner v. Estate of Holmes · 326 U.S. 480 (1946)
• United States v. O'MALLEY · 383 U.S. 627 (1966)
• Americold Realty Trust v. ConAgra Foods, Inc. · 577 U.S. 378 (2016)
• Comptroller of Treasury of Md. v. Wynne · 575 U.S. 542 (2015)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Thole v. U. S. Bank N. A. · 590 U.S. 538 (2020)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2019). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).