Estate of Lorraine C. Disbrow, Deceased, Martha D. Johnson, Executrix - Page 30

                                        -30-                                          
          and bounty.  While petitioner places great weight on the fact               
          that Funny Hats could have theoretically evicted decedent from              
          the residence at the end of a year by not renewing her lease for            
          the next year, we do not.  As stated above, lifetime enjoyment              
          and possession may be retained by implied agreement even though             
          not legally enforceable.  In addition, from a factual point of              
          view, the partners of Funny Hats were all members of decedent’s             
          immediate family, and the record gives us no reason to find that            
          they would have evicted decedent from the residence.  Such is               
          especially so given our finding that many of the children                   
          traveled from afar to visit decedent both before and after the              
          transfer.  We also add that decedent during her leasehold                   
          retained much wealth in her name and that the children were the             
          equal beneficiaries of that wealth.                                         
               Fifth, decedent transferred the residence to Funny Hats on             
          the advice of counsel to minimize the tax on her estate.                    
          Decedent appears to have understood that transferring the                   
          residence to Funny Hats and executing the lease agreements with             
          Funny Hats was merely a mechanism for removing the residence from           
          her gross estate while allowing her to retain beneficial                    
          ownership of the residence.  As the beneficial owner of the                 
          residence, but not as a partner of Funny Hats, decedent                     
          constantly wrote checks to Funny Hats and personally cashed those           







Page:  Previous  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011