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Blackman (P) and his wife filed their joint federal income tax returns for 1980 on April 28, 1981. P moved his wife and children to South Carolina, and his wife was dissatisfied and returned to Baltimore with her five children. During Labor Day, P returned and hoped to convince his wife to return and discovered that another man was living with his wife. The neighbors told P that this man had been visiting when he had been out of town prior to the move. When P returned the wife was having a party, and the guests refused to leave. When he confronted his wife the next day, she left, and he took her clothes and put them in the stove to burn them. P claims he eventually put the fire out and left the house. When the firefighters arrived, they found some of the clothing still in the stove, but the house and its contents were destroyed. P was arrested and charged and plead not guilty. P was eventually ordered to serve 24 months-unsupervised probation without verdict on a malicious destruction charge. P filed an insurance claim, and the company refused to honor the claim. P then deducted $97,853 as casualty loss. The Commissioner disallowed the deduction.

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