[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

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No. 23-14049 ____________________

ESTATE OF RICHARD D. SPIZZIRRI, DECEASED, John H. McAtee, Jr., Personal Representative, Petitioner-Appellant, versus COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE,

Respondent-Appellee.

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Petition for Review of a Decision of the U.S. Tax Court Agency No. 19124-19 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 23-14049 Document: 36-1 Date Filed: 05/16/2025 Page: 2 of 13

2 Opinion of the Court 23-14049

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and GRANT and LUCK, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge: This appeal requires us to decide whether an estate was en- titled, for tax purposes, to deduct a $3 million transfer to the dece- dent’s stepchildren as a “claim[] against the estate.” 26 U.S.C. § 2053(a)(3). Richard Spizzirri and his fourth wife, Holly Lueders, entered into a prenuptial agreement that required his estate to transfer $6 million to Lueders and $3 million to her children from a previous marriage upon his death. The agreement stated that those payments were “in lieu of any other rights which may be available to [Lueders]” as Spizzirri’s “surviving spouse.” After Spiz- zirri’s death, the estate paid the stepchildren and deducted the pay- ments as “claims against the estate.” Id. When the Commissioner of Internal Revenue sent a notice of deficiency denying those de- ductions, the estate petitioned the tax court for review. The tax court ruled after a trial that the transfers to the stepchildren were not deductible as “claims against the estate” because they were nei- ther “contracted bona fide” nor “for an adequate and full consider- ation in money or money’s worth.” Id. § 2053(a)(3), (c)(1)(A). We affirm. I. BACKGROUND On March 4, 1997, 64-year-old Richard Spizzirri entered into a prenuptial agreement with his soon-to-be fourth wife, 48-year-old Holly Lueders. Spizzirri then had a net worth between $24.7 mil- lion and $27.7 million, an annual income of $720,000, and four USCA11 Case: 23-14049 Document: 36-1 Date Filed: 05/16/2025 Page: 3 of 13

23-14049 Opinion of the Court 3

children from his first marriage. Lueders had a net worth of over $1 million, no income, and three children. The agreement initially recited the parties’ intentions. One recital, for example, stated that Lueders “agreed to accept the pro- visions set forth in this Agreement in place of all rights in the prop- erty and estate of [Spizzirri], either as his wife during her lifetime, or as his widow, heir-at-law, next-of-kin, or distributee upon his death.” The rest of the agreement defined the parties’ rights and waivers of rights on distinct subjects. Article IV of the agreement addressed Lueders’s estate rights if they remained married and cohabitated until Spizzirri’s death. Lueders waived any right as a “surviving spouse to all or any part of the estate or property of [Spizzirri] . . . , including any income interest, dower, curtesy, . . . or other