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bequest. See sec. 2055(c) (limiting charitable contribution
deduction to amount of charitable bequest reduced by amount of
taxes payable out of that bequest). This is especially true when
we consider the equivalency that the will otherwise gives to the
charitable bequest and the bequest in trust to decedent’s
grandchildren. These bequests are designated in decedent’s will
to each constitute one half of the “rest, residue, and remainder”
of decedent’s property.6
We agree with the estate that decedent’s will lacks a clear
expression of intent as to who is ultimately to bear the burden
of the estate taxes. The will as a whole is ambiguous on this
score. Although decedent’s will provision is susceptible to a
number of plausible ways of apportioning the estate taxes, none
of these interpretations provides a sustainable basis for
apportioning the estate taxes between the bequest in trust to
decedent’s grandchildren and the charitable bequest to the Lubin-
Green Foundation. Under these circumstances, Missouri judicial
precedents dictate that we apply the doctrine of equitable
6 This designation might support respondent’s original
interpretation, which he has now abandoned, that the will
requires a 50-50 allocation of the estate taxes between the
charitable bequest and the bequest in trust for the
grandchildren. Although this interpretation is plausible, it has
no express support in the specific provision of decedent’s will
dealing with the apportionment of taxes. Also, the fact that
both of the interpretations that respondent has forwarded, as
well as other possible interpretations, are similarly plausible
supports our ultimate conclusion that the will is ambiguous as to
the proper apportionment of the estate taxes.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011