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After the grantor’s death the trustees made the missed
distributions. See id. The U.S. District Court for the District
of Massachusetts held that the missed distributions were
completed gifts. See id. at 693. The District Court explained:
The language of the trust required the trustees to make
the distributions on the first of the year as to each
year’s distribution. Once this date passed, [the
grantor] had transferred her control over the amount of
the distribution. Otherwise stated, [the grantor’s]
power lapsed on the first of the year with respect to
the distributions at issue. [The grantor] could not
have canceled or amended the amount of a missed
distribution which, under the mandatory language of the
trust, became binding once the date for distribution
passed. * * * [Id.]
The facts of the instant case are distinguishable from the facts
of White. The language of the order does not require the gifts
to be made. Nebraska law provided that, after a determination of
incompetency, the court, either directly or through a
conservator, can exercise all powers over the estate and affairs
of the incompetent, including the power to make gifts. See Neb.
Rev. Stat. sec. 30-2637(3) (Reissue 1995). That statute,
however, requires that a conservator obtain court approval before
making any gifts out of the incompetent’s estate. See Neb. Rev.
Stat. sec. 30-2654(b) (Reissue 1995).
Accordingly, after the issuance of the order, it was within
the power of decedent's guardian-conservator to make the
enumerated gifts, but he was not required to do so. Decedent,
pursuant to Nebraska law, could have challenged that order prior
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