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Petitioner directed GCI to open the Republic Bank account on
December 30, 1985, at which time $771,000 was deposited.8 Both
petitioner and Mr. Haynes of First American were signatories of
the Republic Bank account, and both individuals were required to
sign for a transaction. Therefore, we must determine whether
this two-signature requirement posed a substantial limitation or
restriction on petitioner’s control of the funds.
In Estate of Fairbanks v. Commissioner, 3 T.C. 260 (1944),
the decedent was entitled to receive annual delay rentals from
Sun Oil Co., which she specifically devised to her four children
and surviving husband. Because a dispute arose between
decedent’s husband and her executors, in 1940, the Sun Oil Co.
deposited the rentals in a joint bank account that required the
signatures of decedent’s husband and her executors before any
withdrawals could be made. The Court held that the estate was
not required to recognize income in 1940, stating that “these
delay rentals were not paid to * * * [the] executors, but, on the
contrary, were paid by the Sun Oil Co. to the * * * [bank], and
were deposited in that bank to a new account” of which decedent’s
husband and her executors were joint signatories. This Court
stressed that, in order for the executors to make a withdrawal,
they needed the signature of decedent’s husband. The opinion
concluded that this was enough of a restriction on the account to
8 See supra note 4.
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