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provided that the grantees assumed the Land Bank debt to which
the transferred land was subject.
As a result of these assumptions by the children (and their
spouses), decedent effectively became a guarantor, rather than a
co-obligor, with respect to most of the Land Bank loan. Because
a guarantor's rights to contribution (or subrogation) are greater
than a co-obligor's, it would be inappropriate to determine the
value of decedent's contribution rights by reference to the
number of obligors on the Land Bank loan. See Estate of Theis v.
Commissioner, 770 F.2d 981 (11th Cir. 1985) (section 2053
deduction denied in its entirety where decedent was only
secondarily liable, because decedent had 100-percent right of
contribution from primary debtor), affg. 81 T.C. 741 (1983).
3. Decedent's Status as Guarantor or "Accommodation" Party
In addition to the assumptions of debt by decedent's
transferees, there is other evidence that suggests decedent
functioned largely as a guarantor or "accommodation" party with
respect to the Land Bank loan.
First, even petitioner claims that only 17.5 percent of the
proceeds from the Land Bank loan was used for decedent's benefit.
In addition, all of the net loan proceeds not used to pay the
taxes and expenses of Garry's estate were deposited in the Vera
Lou Klippel agent account, which was owned solely by the
children. Moreover, other than the unsubstantiated testimony of
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