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never had the intention of removing the improvements from the
premises because FNF was a family-operated business that decedent
wanted to continue. Additionally, respondent contends that
removal of the improvements would destroy the assets and require
a “massive amount of effort”.
A decedent’s gross estate includes all property to the
extent of the decedent’s interest therein at the time of his
death. Sec. 2033. A decedent’s interest in property is
determined by State law. Morgan v. Commissioner, 309 U.S. 78, 80
(1940). The decisions of the State’s highest court are
conclusive as to that State’s law, but in the absence of a
decision by that court we may look to the State’s lower courts’
rulings and holdings. Commissioner v. Estate of Bosch, 387 U.S.
456, 465 (1967).
Under California law, a fixture is a thing that is so
attached to realty as to be considered in law a part of the
realty itself. Cal. Civ. Code sec. 660 (West 1982).6 Generally,
a tenant of real property has no right to remove fixtures from
6 Sec. 660 of the California Civil Code provides, in
relevant part:
A thing is deemed to be affixed to land when it is
attached to it by roots, as in the case of trees,
vines, or shrubs; or imbedded in it, as in the case of
walls; or permanently resting upon it, as in the case
of buildings; or permanently attached to what is thus
permanent, as by means of cement, plaster, nails,
bolts, or screws * * *.
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