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28A, article 27, of the General Statutes of North Carolina
applies to the apportionment of the Federal estate tax.
Petitioner's position seeks to import into the will the
apportionment provision of a separate document, namely, the trust
agreement, in order to determine how decedent's residuary estate
should be distributed. See generally Shoup v. American Trust
Co., 245 N.C. 682, 97 S.E.2d 111, 115 (1957) (as a general rule
the construction of a will is not to be influenced by provisions
of other nontestamentary documents). Petitioner ignores the
distinction between determining how an estate is to be divided
and how the burden of taxes is allocated. The apportionment
clause in the trust agreement deals with an allocation of the tax
burden on property that the beneficiaries of the trust are
entitled to receive from the trust, not what the trust is
entitled to receive from the grantor-decedent's estate.
Accordingly, we hold that the amount of decedent's
deductions for charitable bequests is to be reduced by the amount
of Federal estate and State inheritance taxes.
In accordance with the parties' concessions and the above
holdings,
Decision will be entered
under Rule 155.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011