- 47 - discretion on the trustee. Petitioner also cites section 16040(a) of the California Probate Code, which requires a trustee to administer the trust: with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of like character and with like aims to accomplish purposes of the trust as determined from the trust instrument. Petitioner's argument is based upon a misreading of the Estate of Ellingson case. In that case, the settlor's estate plan provided for the creation of a "Marital Deduction Trust" upon his death under which his surviving spouse received the "entire net income" of the trust for her life. However, the trust agreement contained a proviso under which the trustees, one of whom was the surviving spouse, were authorized to accumulate income in excess of "the amount which the Trustee deems to be necessary for * * * [the surviving spouse's] needs, best interests and welfare". Estate of Ellingson v. Commissioner, supra at 960. The Court of Appeals found, on the basis of a fully stipulated record, that the settlor intended the trust property to constitute QTIP and to qualify for the maritalPage: Previous 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 Next
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