Estate of Sarah H. Newman, Deceased, Mark M. Newman, Co-Executor and Minna N. Nathanson, Co-Executor - Page 13

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          Id. at 130.  The trustees of the donor's estate maintained that             
          the relation-back doctrine should be extended to noncharitable              
          gifts made by check.  The trustees argued that there were no                
          policy considerations which would justify treating charitable               
          donations differently than noncharitable gifts.  The Court of               
          Appeals for the Seventh Circuit disagreed, stating:                         

               there remains sufficient justification compelling the                  
               inclusion of outstanding checks issued to noncharitable                
               donees.  The Internal Revenue Code now exempts only                    
               those gifts made by a decedent up to $10,000 per donee,                
               per year.  I.R.C. � 2035(b)(2) (1985).  To the extent                  
               of that exemption, application of the relation back                    
               doctrine fosters estate tax avoidance.  By issuing a                   
               check to a noncharitable donee with the understanding                  
               that it not be cashed until after his death, a decedent                
               may effectively bequest up to $10,000 per donee, thus                  
               avoiding the estate tax consequences normally attending                
               such transactions.  * * *  [Id. at 132.]                               

               In Estate of Metzger v. Commissioner, 100 T.C. 204 (1993),             
          we extended the relation-back doctrine to a situation involving             
          noncharitable gift checks.  In that case, the checks were issued            
          to noncharitable donees in December 1985.  The donees deposited             
          the checks on December 31, 1985; however, the checks did not                
          clear the drawee until after the New Year holiday in 1986.  Id.             
          at 214.  The question was whether the gifts occurred in the first           
          year or in the second.  A critical difference between the facts             
          in Estate of Gagliardi v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. 1207 (1987), and            
          McCarthy v. United States, supra, and the facts in Estate of                
          Metzger v. Commissioner, supra, was that the donor in Estate of             





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