J.C. Shepherd - Page 15




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               We agree with petitioner that any gift to his sons was not             
          completed before August 2, 1991.9  On August 1, 1991, there was             
          no completed gift, because there was no donee, and petitioner had           
          not parted with dominion and control over the property.                     
          Petitioner could not make a gift to himself.  See Kincaid v.                
          United States, 682 F.2d 1220, 1224 (5th Cir. 1982).                         
               We disagree with petitioner’s contention, however, that his            
          gifts to his sons of interests in the leased land represented               
          gifts of minority partnership interests because, as just                    
          discussed, the creation of the partnership (and therefore the               
          creation of the sons’ partnership interests) preceded the                   
          completion of petitioner’s gift to the partnership.  To adopt               
          petitioner’s contention would require us to recognize the                   
          existence, however fleeting, of a one-person partnership,                   
          contrary to Alabama law, which defines a partnership as “An                 
          association of two or more persons to carry on as co-owners a               




               9 The Alabama Recording Act, Ala. Code sec. 35-4-90(a)                 
          (1991), generally provides that the conveyance of land is void as           
          to the grantee unless the deed transferring the land is recorded.           
          Here, the deeds conveying the land to the partnership were not              
          recorded until Aug. 30, 1991.  Neither party has raised, and we             
          do not reach, the issue of whether petitioner’s gifts were not              
          completed until the date of recordation.  Cf. Estate of Whitt v.            
          Commissioner, 751 F.2d 1548, 1561 (11th Cir. 1985) (facts                   
          indicated that gifts were not intended to be completed until the            
          recordation of the deeds of conveyance), affg. T.C. Memo. 1983-             
          262.  It is of little consequence to our analysis, however,                 
          whether petitioner’s gifts of interests in the leased land were             
          completed on Aug. 2 or Aug. 30, 1991.                                       




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