- 5 - that Sarah’s 17/65 interest had a date of death fair market value of $1,290,211. OPINION We consider here circumstances where a married couple die within 1 year of each other. Each decedent, at the time of his or her death, held a partial interest in a family trust. The trust, in turn, held 16 parcels of timberland. The parties agree on the fair market value of the 16 parcels of timberland on the date of each decedent’s death. The controversy centers on the amount of discount applied where each decedent held a fractional interest through the family trust. Generally, the estates have approached valuation by means of what they consider to be comparable sales of fractional interests. On the basis of the relatively limited universe of the sales of partial interests in timberland, the estates’ experts have opined that discounts should range from 55 percent to as much as 90 percent. Respondent agrees that some discount is appropriate, but he contends that the size of the discounts proposed by the estates is excessive and that the estates’ experts are merely advocates for petitioners’ position. Valuation of a property interest for Federal estate tax purposes is a factual question. See Estate of Bonner v. United States, 84 F.3d 196, 197 (5th Cir. 1996); Sammons v. Commissioner, 838 F.2d 330, 333 (9th Cir. 1988), affg. on thisPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
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