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estate and State inheritance taxes. In support of that
position the estate makes three arguments.
The estate's first argument is that the decedent
intended all of the death taxes attributable to his death
to be paid from the trust and not from the residuary
probate estate. The estate bases this argument on the
parenthetical language in paragraph 1.02 of article I of
the decedent's will (viz, "other than death taxes which are
paid from property passing outside of this Will pursuant to
the terms of the governing instrument") and on the broad
definition of "death taxes" in paragraph 10.02 of article
X, quoted above. The estate further argues that the
trust agreement, which forms a part of the decedent's
interrelated estate plan, confirms the decedent's intent to
pay death taxes from the trust, and the trust controls the
apportionment of death taxes. According to the estate,
article V of the trust agreement, particularly paragraph
5.04 thereof, makes it clear that the decedent intended
death taxes to be paid from the trust residual assets,
after disposition of the general legacy for the charitable
beneficiary.
The estate's second argument is that the decedent did
not provide a method of apportionment of tax that differs
from the method prescribed under the North Carolina
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