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testified that he knew before decedent made the gifts that the
wives had agreed to transfer the shares to their husbands.
Moreover, decedent was treasurer of MBI and a member of its board
of directors; therefore, it cannot be denied that she knew Gayle,
Loretta, and Cheryl made immediate transfers of the shares to
Albert, Gregory, and James, respectively.
Decedent executed her will in 1989. The will provided for
the bequest of the MBI stock that decedent held at death to her
sons, or to the survivor of them. Thus, in the event either of
her sons had predeceased decedent, decedent did not intend for
the surviving spouse of the deceased son to take any shares.
This provision is evidence of decedent's intentions regarding
ownership of MBI stock by her daughters-in-law.
Furthermore, decedent made no inter vivos or testamentary
transfers of MBI stock to either Joanne or Barbara, because
neither daughter was committed to the funeral home business.
However, decedent made transfers of stock to Gayle even though
she knew that Gayle did not want to be in the funeral home
business. This is strong evidence that the stock transfers to
the daughters-in-law actually were indirect transfers to her
sons.
The 1986 and 1991 agreements show that Albert, Gregory, and
James anticipated owning collectively all the MBI shares. Mr.
Grayson, Albert, Loretta, Gayle, James, and Cheryl testified that
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