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into 100-percent fee ownership with other fractional interests
owned by an estate. See Estate of Mellinger v. Commissioner, 112
T.C. at 36-37. In Estate of Bonner the court specifically stated
that there was nothing in section 2044 to require the merger of
QTIP assets with other assets. See Estate of Bonner v. United
States, supra at 198. In Estate of Mellinger, it was explained
that nothing in section 2044 nor in the legislative history
indicated that the decedent should be treated as the owner of the
QTIP shares. See Estate of Mellinger v. Commissioner, supra at
36.
This analysis is equally applicable to the facts before us.
Nothing in section 2044 or the accompanying legislative history
indicates that Congress intended that the property that "passes
through" a decedent's estate under section 2044(c) be treated as
if the decedent actually owned that property for purposes of
aggregation. Nor is there any indication that those property
interests should be merged or aggregated with interests in the
same property includable in the decedent's gross estate pursuant
to other Code sections for purposes of determining Federal estate
tax value. Section 2044 provides only that the fair market value
of property in which the decedent had a qualifying income
interest for life should be included in the gross estate. See
sec. 2044(a). Thus, the fractional interests of the survivor's
trust and the QTIP trust should be valued separately.
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