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More recently, this Court considered the issue in Estate of
Marks v. Commissioner, supra at 727-729, and held, as before,
that “the deemed surviving spouse is not entitled to the section
2013 credit in a simultaneous death situation.” We indicated
that the surviving spouse’s interest was “too ephemeral to be
accorded value”. Id. at 729. Likewise, the Court of Appeals for
the Fifth Circuit ruled in Estate of Carter v. United States,
supra at 64, that an interest “passed between persons dying in a
common disaster has no value and thus that the taxpayer is
entitled to no credit.” The court once again emphasized that
“‘recognized valuation principles’” in section 20.2013-4(a),
Estate Tax Regs., “does not refer exclusively to the actuarial
tables” and stated that “The paradigm ‘unusual circumstance’ in
which mortality tables have not been employed is the simultaneous
death of the transferor and transferee.” Id. at 66 & n.6, 67.
IV. Interpretation and Application
Given the foregoing authority, we first consider whether the
principles developed in simultaneous death situations arising
prior to the enactment of section 7520 in 1988, see Technical and
Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-647, 102 Stat.
3342, retain their validity under the current statutory and
regulatory regime. If so, we must then decide whether the case
at bar is to be treated as a simultaneous death situation.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011