Estate of H.A. True, Jr. - Page 333




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          decedent during his lifetime because it explicitly gave the                 
          decedent unilateral power to alter or amend its terms, and the              
          natural objects of the decedent’s bounty were the other                     
          shareholders.  In the cases at hand, we agree with petitioners              
          that Dave True could not unilaterally terminate the agreements              
          because, by their terms, the buy-sell agreements would not                  
          terminate until the death of the last surviving shareholder.                
          However, contrary to petitioners’ assertions, we note that each             
          corporation was listed as a party to its own amended and restated           
          buy-sell agreement dated August 11, 1984.                                   
               Notwithstanding this inconsistency, we believe that Dave               
          True’s controlling ownership did not give him unilateral                    
          authority to alter or amend the corporate buy-sell agreements so            
          that they would be considered non-binding.  First, the agreement            
          in Bommer explicitly conferred on the decedent the unilateral               
          power to amend.  See id.  This is not true in the cases at hand.            
          Second, it appears that the primary parties to the instant                  
          agreements were the shareholders and that the corporation was               
          included only to ensure that the stock certificates were marked             
          with transfer restrictions.  Therefore, contrary to respondent’s            
          assertions, we conclude that Dave True’s majority ownership of              
          the True corporations did not confer on him the unilateral                  
          authority to alter or amend the buy-sell agreements, which would            








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