- 40 -
property to pass to heirs without inclusion in the taxable
estate. See sec. 2010; Manning et al., supra at 1-22. If
decedent sought to minimize his estate taxes "down to the last
dollar", he would have wanted to disclaim enough property to use
fully the unified credit in Mrs. Chamberlain's estate. In
contradiction to his own testimony, Dale testified that while he
and decedent were reviewing Exhibit 5-E, "he [decedent] was
talking about these [the probate assets] would be the assets he
would disclaim." The probate assets, including the $75,000 that
would be used to pay Dale's specific bequest, had a date of death
value of $492,761 yet the unified credit available for Mrs.
Chamberlain's estate was $600,000. Thus, unless decedent also
disclaimed a portion of his survivorship interests in joint
tenancy property, $107,239 of the unified credit would be wasted.
At trial, Mr. Meyer testified that decedent had expressed
his intent to disclaim the probate assets. This statement,
however, contradicts Exhibits 4-D and 9-I, memoranda written by
Mr. Meyer and Mr. Kadish's responses thereto, and Exhibit 8-H,
the disclaimer document that was prepared by Mr. Kadish. All 3
exhibits clearly contemplate a disclaimer of joint tenancy
property to the extent necessary to use the full amount of the
unified credit, after taking into account the probate assets. In
Exhibit 4-D, Mr. Kadish's response to Mr. Meyer illustrates that
they were of the view that joint tenancy property could be
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