Estate of Betty Pace Miller, Deceased, Jerry D. Walker, Independent Executor - Page 16

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            will does not render the trust provisions superfluous or                                    
            meaningless--as petitioner contends.  See Marlin v. Kelley, 678                             
            S.W.2d 582, 587 (Tex. App. 1984, writ granted 1985), affd. Kelley                           
            v. Marlin, 714 S.W.2d 303 (Tex. 1986).  The trust merely provides                           
            an alternative plan of payment in case the primary direction of                             
            decedent in article II fails for whatever reason.  Wills commonly                           
            contain such provisions to accommodate different scenarios upon                             
            death.                                                                                      
                  Petitioner, citing no authority, also contends that various                           
            portions of the Texas statute guarantee the marital deduction                               
            regardless of decedent's intent regarding apportionment.                                    
            Petitioner claims that this construction of the statute is                                  
            supported by compelling public policy because the marital                                   
            deduction was designed to protect interests of surviving spouses                            
            and should not be an unreasonable trap for the unwary.                                      
                  These arguments are unsupported by the language or structure                          
            of the statute, and no other apportionment statute has been                                 
            interpreted in this manner.  Subsection (b)(1) of section 322A of                           
            Texas Probate Code sets forth the general apportionment rule, and                           
            subsections (c) through (y) are provisions setting forth how the                            
            general rule is to be carried out.  Subsections (c) through (y)                             
            do not act independently of the general apportionment provision,                            
            but rather supplement it.  Thus, subsections (c) and (d) do not                             
            guarantee that the marital deduction always inures to the benefit                           





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