-23- (ii) Accordingly, the amount of the gift is the fair market value of the property transferred to the trust reduced by the value of A's qualified interest (A's right to receive the stated annuity for 10 years or until A's prior death). B's interest is not a qualified interest and is thus valued at zero under section 2702. Petitioners argue alternatively that this Court, if we conclude that the spousal interests in the GRATs are not qualified interests, must disregard those interests in that the instruments establishing the GRATs state as much. Petitioners point the Court to Article Five D, which states that “No power, right, or duty under the agreement will be effective or exercisable to the extent that it would cause my retained annuity interest (or my wife’s [husband’s] interest, if any) hereunder to fail to qualify as a ‘qualified annuity interest’ under I.R.C. � 2702(b)(1)”. Petitioners assert that the quoted text operates to invalidate the spousal interests in that those interests are not qualified interests. Petitioners conclude that each GRAT is now simply a GRAT for a set term of either 2 or 4 years, as the case may be, and should be treated as such. We reject petitioners’ alternative argument. We do not believe that petitioners are entitled at this time to treat each GRAT in issue as one of a set term of years simply because the GRATs state that our determination that the spousal interests are not qualified interests essentially means that the spousal gift is revoked. Such a “savings clause” is ineffective for FederalPage: Previous 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011