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OPINION
Issue 1. Moment-of-Death Value of JPMS Stock
The primary issue for decision is the moment-of-death value of
1,226 shares of JPMS common stock held by the Trust. Petitioner
now contends that the stock was worth between $23,062,000 and $29
million. Respondent now asserts the value to be $81 million, or
$24 million less than that determined in the notice of deficiency.
Section 2031(a) requires a decedent's "gross estate" to be
determined for Federal estate tax purposes "by including * * * the
value at the time of his death of all property, real or personal,
tangible or intangible, wherever situated." Value is determined at
the moment of death.12 Ahmanson Found. v. United States, 674 F.2d
12 The following statements made by the Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Land, 303 F.2d 170, 172
(5th Cir. 1962), are, in our opinion, pertinent to our
determination that the valuation of the 1,226 shares of JPMS
common stock held by the Trust must be pinpointed to the moment
of Mr. Mitchell's death:
Brief as is the instant of death, the
court must pinpoint its valuation at this
instant--the moment of truth, when the
ownership of the decedent ends and the
ownership of the successors begins. It is a
fallacy, therefore, to argue value before--
or--after death on the notion that valuation
must be determined by the value either of the
interest that ceases or of the interest that
begins. Instead, the valuation is determined
by the interest that passes, and the value of
the interest before or after death is
pertinent only as it serves to indicate the
value at death. In the usual case death
brings no change in the value of property.
(continued...)
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