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decedent irrevocably relinquished ownership of the trust assets
during her lifetime when she signed the trust documents stating
that she was transferring the property to the trust on August 9,
1991. The CRAT was created on that date and was to function as a
CRAT from that day forward, as required in the regulations. See
id. The regulation providing for a deemed creation date upon the
death of a trustor does not apply to an operating inter vivos
trust that is to continue after the death of the grantor.
Though only mentioned in passing by petitioner, we also note
that reformation of the trust pursuant to section 2055(e)(3)
would not be an available remedy to petitioner. Section
2055(e)(3) provides that a trust or will may be reformed if it
was improperly created and yet conforms to the CRAT requirements.
The definition of “qualified reformation” demonstrates that the
reformation is meant to address only those problems arising in
the documentation of the trust. Section 2055(e)(3)(B) defines
qualified reformation as “a change of governing instrument by
reformation, amendment, construction, or otherwise”. The
legislative history indicates that reformation under section 2055
was created to address problems in trust creation as follows:
“The bill provides a permanent rule permitting reformation of
governing instruments of charitable split-interest trusts which
do not meet the requirements of the 1969 Act rules.” Staff of
the Senate Comm. on Finance, 98th Cong. 2d Sess., Explanation Of
Provisions Approved By The Committee On March 21, 1984, S. Prt.
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