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their duties as executors; (3) decedent’s will provided that the
executors were not to receive executor’s fees or commissions; and
(4) the payments to Pearl Meyer were made long after the
restructuring. We give more weight to these facts and to
Bergreen’s memorandum than to Bergreen’s testimony and the fact
that the estate paid Pearl Meyer.
We conclude that the $826,364 paid to Pearl Meyer was not an
administration expense under section 2053.
b. Payments to Price Waterhouse, Cullen & Dykman,
Fensterstock & Partners, and Carter Ledyard
It appears from the record that the estate paid substantial
administration expenses, including payments to Price Waterhouse,
Cullen & Dykman, Fensterstock & Partners, and Carter Ledyard. We
accept the estate’s claim that the payments to Price Waterhouse
and Carter Ledyard, totaling $2,803,939, are expenses of the
estate. However, the estate failed to show that the payments to
Cullen & Dykman and Fensterstock & Partners were administration
expenses under section 2053; i.e., for the benefit of the estate
and not for the benefit of the foundation. The estate offered no
evidence other than Bergreen’s testimony on this point. We give
less weight to that testimony because of his less-than-convincing
testimony regarding the Pearl Meyer expenses. Because we believe
that the estate incurred substantial expenses for necessary
services provided to the estate, we allow the estate to allocate
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