-55-
26, 1997, letter agreeing to investment in Schutt I and II
subject to three conditions, the condition pertaining to consent
read:
All of the beneficiaries of the various trusts who
are of age will execute a form of consent whereby they
acknowledge and consent to the trusts’ investing in the
business trusts and that they recognize that the
business trusts may last beyond the termination date of
the trusts of which they are a beneficiary. The form
of the Delaware business trusts will be attached to the
consents.
Mr. Howard testified that the latter requirement of the just-
quoted condition was suggested and insisted upon by him to ensure
that the consent given by the beneficiaries was meaningful.
Despite the evidence discussed above, it is nonetheless
respondent’s position that tax savings through valuation
discounts constituted the dominant reason for formation of Schutt
I and II. Respondent characterizes the issue of valuation
discounts as having “dominated” the early discussions concerning
the formation of a new entity. Respondent also notes that
decedent and his advisers initially contemplated only
transferring stock from the Revocable Trust to a business trust
and emphasizes that the subsequent decision to involve the WTC
trusts served a tax purpose of making available minority as well
as marketability discounts. However, while it is clear that
estate tax implications were recognized and considered in the
initial stages of the planning process, the record fails to
reflect that such issues predominated in decedent’s thinking and
Page: Previous 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011