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Issue 3. Whether 12 Checks Decedent Wrote and Delivered to Her
Agent 4 Days Before She Died Were Completed Gifts; If Not,
Whether the Checks Are Claims Against the Estate That May Be
Deducted Under Section 2053
Decedent intended to make gifts of $10,000 to each of her
children and grandchildren during 1989. On November 21, 1989,
she wrote 12 checks, each for $10,000 (total $120,000), and gave
them to her son, Jack, to deliver to the donees. Unlike the
gifts she made in prior years, these checks were made to each of
the donees personally, and none were payable to the Weinstock
Trusts. At the time decedent wrote the checks, she had $89,799 in
her checking account. Jack placed the checks in his desk at home
for safekeeping, and then went to Florida with his family for
Thanksgiving. Jack intended to arrange a bank loan for the
amount of the checks when he returned, and then to deliver the
checks to the donees.
On November 25, 1989, while Jack was still in Florida,
decedent was killed in an automobile accident. After the demise
of decedent, Jack replaced the 12 checks signed by decedent with
12 new checks drawn on the estate account, which he signed as a
coexecutor.18 Jack delivered the replacement checks to the 12
payees of the checks signed by decedent, and the payees cashed
these replacement checks. The 12 checks signed by decedent were
never delivered to the intended donees nor deposited, and
18 The $10,000 check to Jack was written and signed by his
brother, Lewis, who was also an executor of the estate.
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