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or sell and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant
facts. See United States v. Cartwright, 411 U.S. 546, 551
(1973); sec. 20.2031-1(b), Estate Tax Regs.
The issue here is whether the property interests held in the
survivor's trust should be aggregated with the property interests
held by the QTIP marital trust for the purpose of determining the
fair market value of the property passing from decedent. If the
interests are not aggregated, the values will be discounted to
reflect lack of marketability and minority interests. See Estate
of Mellinger v. Commissioner, supra at 33. We have already
rejected the same aggregation argument advanced by respondent, in
Estate of Mellinger and in Estate of Nowell v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1999-15. We find no factual or legal distinction that
would result in a different conclusion in this case.
In Estate of Mellinger, the decedent died holding stock in
her revocable trust and in a QTIP trust, much like decedent in
this case. See Estate of Mellinger v. Commissioner, supra at 27.
Each of the trusts held shares of stock, which, when combined,
would have represented a controlling block of shares in the
company. See id. The Commissioner argued that the shares should
be aggregated for valuation purposes. This Court, citing the
reasoning of the Fifth Circuit in Estate of Bonner v. United
States, 84 F.3d 196, 198 (5th Cir. 1996), held that the
fractional interests held in QTIP trusts should not be merged
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