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administration expenses, including fiduciaries' fees
and expenses of litigation, which are ordinary and
necessary in connection with the performance of the
duties of administration are deductible under section
212 notwithstanding that the estate or trust is not
engaged in a trade or business * * * [Emphasis added.]
The phrase "duties of administration" is not defined in section
1.212-1(i), Income Tax Regs. Petitioner would have us define it
in this case to include the defense of a lawsuit in which a
trustee is sued, regardless of the nature of the claims asserted,
arguing that a trustee has a fiduciary duty to defend any lawsuit
which threatens the integrity and operation of the Trust.
Petitioner relies on our decisions in Moore Trust v.
Commissioner, 49 T.C. 430 (1968) and Estate of Barnhart v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1959-42, to support her argument.6
Again, we must reject petitioner's position. An examination
of the cited cases reveals why.
In Moore Trust, a trustee sought judicial interpretation of
the trust instrument to determine whether the remainder interests
could be accelerated following the life tenant's renunciation of
her interest in the trust. The litigation at issue did not
involve any claim that the trust was invalid but was filed to
resolve an interpretive issue raised by the trust agreement
impacting directly on the manner in which the trust would be
6We accept, arguendo, petitioner's contention that she owed
a fiduciary duty to defend the Trust against Garland's lawsuit.
See First Natl. Bank v. Stricklin, 347 P.2d 652 (Okla. 1959).
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