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date the checks were issued which was prior to decedent's death.7
We have applied the relation-back doctrine under certain
circumstances in prior cases. Estate of Metzger v. Commissioner,
supra at 215; Estate of Belcher v. Commissioner, 83 T.C. 227, 232
(1984) (held that checks mailed to charitable donees prior to the
donor's death but not paid until after death related back to the
date of delivery, thus reducing the donor's gross estate); Estate
of Spiegel v. Commissioner, 12 T.C. 524 (1949) (held that
charitable contributions made by check delivered in 1942 but
deposited in 1943 related back to 1942 for deduction). However,
we have specifically declined to extend the relation-back
doctrine where noncharitable gifts were made by check and the
donor died while the checks were still outstanding. Estate of
Gagliardi v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. at 1212.
In Estate of Gagliardi v. Commissioner, supra, the donor,
through his son acting as attorney-in-fact, issued checks,
representing gifts, to his children. Some of these checks were
paid by the drawee prior to the donor's death. We held that the
funds represented by those checks should not be included in the
donor's gross estate. Id. at 1211. However, some of the checks
were not paid until after the donor died. In regard to the
outstanding noncharitable gift checks paid by the drawee after
the donor's death, we declined to extend the relation-back
7Petitioner relies on the dates written on the checks in
question.
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