- 41 - of State law by local tribunals. See Commissioner v. Estate of Bosch, 387 U.S. 456, 465 (1967); Propper v. Clark, 337 U.S. 472, 486-487 (1949); Helvering v. Stuart, 317 U.S. at 162-163. Friedman v. United States, 364 F. Supp. 484 (1973), reflects that the statutes from which Ga. Code Ann. section 53-12-190 sprang were enacted for the purpose of establishing a default rule by which spousal trusts were able to qualify for the marital deduction absent an unmistakable expression of intent to the contrary. At the same time, no evidence suggests that the Georgia legislature has since sought to weaken this rule and thereby make it easier for a trust to fall short of deductible status. The above-quoted sections addressed in Friedman v. United States, supra, were subsequently recodified verbatim in all material respects as subsections (b) and (c) of Ga. Code Ann. section 53-13-53 (Code 1981). The provisions existed in such form until the comprehensive revision and complete recodification of Georgia trust law which took effect on July 1, 1991, and which enacted Ga. Code Ann. section 53-12-190. An article explaining the new act by the individual who served as Reporter to the Trust Law Revision Committee which drafted the measure indicates that no substantive change was intended. See Emanuel, “The Georgia Trust Act”, 28 Ga. St. B.J. 95, 97 (1991). Citing former Ga. Code Ann. section 53-13-53, the article states: “The Act * * * carries forward the Georgia statute directing the trusteePage: Previous 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Next
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