Estate of Bert B. Rapp, Deceased, Richard L. Rapp, Executor - Page 49

                                       - 49 -                                         

             spouse during her lifetime.  Otherwise, they would be                    
             forced to sell the family farm in order to pay estate taxes              
             in excess of $8 million, and that would not be in the "best              
             interests" of the surviving spouse.  Id. at 964.  On the                 
             other hand, if the trustees had chosen to decline to make                
             the QTIP election, then the "best interests" of the                      
             surviving spouse would permit the accumulation of income.                
                  Petitioner is asking this Court to do something that                
             the Court of Appeals in Ellingson did not do.  Petitioner                
             asks us to find that the trustees are required to pay all                
             of the income from the trust to Mrs. Rapp on the ground                  
             that it is in Mrs. Rapp's "best interests", for the trust                
             to qualify for the marital deduction.  Unlike the Ellingson              
             case, however, there is no evidence in the trust instrument              
             that the decedent intended such result.  Therefore, the                  
             Ellingson case does not govern this one.  In fact, the                   
             Court of Appeals specifically distinguished its opinion                  
             from Wisely v. United States, 893 F.2d 660 (4th Cir. 1990);              
             Estate of Doherty v. Commissioner, 95 T.C. 446 (1990); and               
             Estate of Nicholson v. Commissioner, 94 T.C. 666 (1990),                 
             which it described as cases in which there was "no clearly               
             manifested intent" in the instrument that the trust                      








Page:  Previous  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011