-50-
setting investment philosophy during his lifetime, followed by
his son and son-in-law as successor trustees.
However, by only considering the Revocable Trust assets in
isolation, this analysis disregards more than half of the
property involved in the business trusts. Decedent in effect
used the assets of the Revocable Trust10 to enhance his ability
to perpetuate a philosophy vis-a-vis the stock of the WTC trusts,
such that none of the contributions should be disregarded in
evaluating the practical implications of Schutt I and II.
Mr. Howard testified that he did not believe he would have
considered a proposal involving contribution only of the WTC
trusts’ assets to entities structured as were Schutt I and II,
without decedent’s willingness to place his own property
alongside. As Mr. Howard explained: “it made real to me,
certainly, when someone is willing to contribute that sum of
money and tie it up the same way we were tying it up with respect
to distributions, if not with respect to management, that this
was something that he and the family, if they were willing to
agree to it, felt strongly about.” This importance of decedent’s
contributions to those negotiating on behalf of WTC, at least on
a psychological level, reflects a critical interconnectedness
between decedent’s contributions and those of the WTC trusts.
10 To employ an oft-used metaphor, the assets of the
Revocable Trust served essentially as leverage in the form of a
carrot.
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