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presented factual circumstances where the estates met the
requirement of section 2053 or its predecessor sections.
Petitioner cites a few other cases where estates were allowed to
deduct interest or sell assets because of a lack of liquidity,
but in each instance, unlike the circumstances we confront, the
entity borrowing funds or selling assets was the estate.
Finally, petitioner, in response to respondent’s argument
that petitioner has not shown that the interest here would be
allowable under State law, refers us to California trust law at
probate code section 16241, which provides: “The trustee has the
power to borrow money for any trust purpose to be repaid from
trust property.” Cal. Prob. Code sec. 16241 (West 1991).
Petitioner contends that the above language unambiguously permits
the trustees to borrow for any trust purpose. Petitioner,
however, misses the point. The trusts petitioner references are
the family trusts of the beneficiaries. Those family trusts were
the recipients of the shopping center property after the property
had first been distributed from the QTIP trust to the
beneficiaries. Although the QTIP trust, created in decedent’s
husband’s will, did have a nexus to decedent’s estate because the
value of the assets was part of the gross estate, the family
trusts of the beneficiaries are merely their personal
instrumentalities of which they are the respective trustees. For
those trusts to borrow funds to pay off the QTIP’s obligation for
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