Estate of Eleanor T.R. Trotter - Page 14




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          condominium after the transfer of title to the exclusion of the             
          donees or anyone else whose status stemmed from a superior legal            
          right to the property.                                                      
               The further circumstance that a donor’s occupancy occurred             
          without payment of rent to the donee has also been repeatedly               
          highlighted.  Guynn v. United States, supra at 1150;  Estate of             
          Rapelje v. Commissioner, supra at 88; Estate of Honigman v.                 
          Commissioner, 66 T.C. at 1081.  As this Court has opined,                   
          “continued rent-free, exclusive occupancy of * * * [the                     
          residence] for life constitutes a substantial present economic              
          benefit akin to his renting * * * [the property] to a third party           
          and keeping the rent therefrom.”  Estate of Baggett v.                      
          Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1991-362; see also Estate of Linderme v.           
          Commissioner, supra at 309.  Again, such an analogy is present in           
          this case as well.  We also note in this connection that the                
          estate’s focus on an ability to sell or borrow against the                  
          property as a principal economic benefit finds no support in the            
          reported decisions.  Since the decedent in nearly every case has            
          transferred legal title, a consequent legal disability from                 
          transacting based on the property must be assumed.  Yet the                 
          courts have not mentioned this deficiency and thus have                     
          apparently deemed it without moment in the face of rent-free                
          occupancy.                                                                  








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