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A gift by check is completed when the donor no longer has
dominion and control over the funds described in the checks and
no power to change the disposition of the funds. See Estate of
Newman v. Commissioner, 111 T.C. 81, 85 (1998), affd. per curiam
by unpublished opinion (D.C. Cir. Sept. 15, 1999); Estate of
Metzger v. Commissioner, 100 T.C. 204, 208 (1993), affd. 38 F.3d
118 (4th Cir. 1994); see also Burnet v. Guggenheim, 288 U.S. 280,
286 (1933). State law controls when a gift is completed. See
Estate of Newman v. Commissioner, supra; Estate of Dillingham v.
Commissioner, 88 T.C. 1569, 1575 (1987), affd. 903 F.2d 760 (10th
Cir. 1990).
In North Carolina, a check not paid by the bank before the
donor dies is not a completed gift and is a part of decedent's
probate estate, see Huskins v. Huskins, 517 S.E.2d 146, 150 (N.C.
Ct. App. 1999); Creekmore v. Creekmore, 485 S.E.2d 68, 72 (N.C.
Ct. App. 1997), because, under North Carolina law, the donor can
stop payment on a check until the bank pays the check or the
donor dies, see sec. 25-4-403, N.C. Gen. Stat. (1995). The
checks which the bank did not pay before Mrs. DiSanto died are
not completed gifts because the bank did not pay the checks
before she died. See Huskins v. Huskins, supra; Creekmore v.
Creekmore, supra.
Petitioners contend that we should follow Bacchus v. United
States, 57 AFTR2d 86-1519, 86-1 USTC par. 13,669 (D.N.J. 1985).
In Bacchus v. United States, supra, the U.S. District Court for
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