Estate of Ida Abraham, Deceased, Donna M. Cawley, and Diana A. Slater, Administratrixes - Page 20

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               The general purpose of section 2036 is to “include in a                
          decedent’s gross estate transfers that are essentially                      
          testamentary–-i.e., transfers which leave the transferor a                  
          significant interest in or control over the property transferred            
          during his lifetime.”  United States v. Estate of Grace, 395 U.S.           
          316, 320 (1969); see also Estate of Harper v. Commissioner, T.C.            
          Memo. 2002-121.  “Thus, an asset transferred by a decedent while            
          he was alive cannot be excluded from his gross estate unless he             
          ‘absolutely, unequivocally, irrevocably, and without possible               
          reservations, parts with all of his title and all of his                    
          possession and all of his enjoyment of the transferred                      
          property.’”  Estate of Thompson v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2002-           
          246 (quoting Commissioner v. Estate of Church, 335 U.S. 632, 645            
          (1949)).                                                                    
               The statute describes a “broad scheme of inclusion,” which             
          is not limited to the form of the transaction, but concerns “all            
          inter vivos transfers where outright disposition of the property            
          is delayed until the transferor’s death.”  Guynn v. United                  
          States, 437 F.2d 1148, 1150 (4th Cir. 1971).  The statute                   
          “effectively includes in the gross estate the full fair market              
          value, at the date of death, of all property transferred in which           
          the decedent had retained an interest, rather than the value of             
          only the retained interest.”  Estate of Thompson v. Commissioner,           








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