Estate of Lillie Rosen, Deceased, Ilene Field and Herbert Silver, Co-Personal Representatives - Page 49

                                         -49-                                         
          Fiesta Invs., LLC (In re Ehmann), 319 Bankr. 200 (Bankr. D. Ariz.           
          2005).                                                                      
               Third, as to petitioners’ claim that the LRFLP was formed to           
          facilitate decedent’s gift giving and to preserve the value of              
          her gifts, even if gift giving were an actual reason for the                
          LRFLP’s formation, it is not a significant nontax purpose that              
          could characterize the transfer of decedent’s assets to the LRFLP           
          as a bona fide sale.23  See Estate of Thompson v. Commissioner,             
          382 F.3d 369, 373-374, 379; Estate of Bigelow v. Commissioner,              
          T.C. Memo. 2005-65; cf. Estate of Bongard v. Commissioner,                  
          124 T.C. at 126-127.  While petitioners also assert on brief that           
          the LRFLP was formed to avoid the burdens and costs associated              
          with giving individual assets to each of the donees, we are                 
          unpersuaded by this assertion.  Petitioners did not include this            
          assertion in their issues memorandum as a reason for forming the            
          LRFLP, and it appears to be nothing more than an after-the-fact             

               23 We note for completeness that we disagree with                      
          petitioners’ claim that gift giving was an actual reason for the            
          formation of the LRFLP.  In fact, it appears to us that the                 
          making of gifts was made harder after that formation.  Before the           
          LRFLP was formed, decedent received monthly brokerage statements            
          that listed the value of the stocks and bonds held at the                   
          brokerage firm.  Afterwards, any gift of a limited partnership              
          interest had to be appraised for Federal tax purposes, a process            
          that most likely is more time consuming and expensive than                  
          valuing the stocks and bonds directly.  Such is especially so               
          given that the appraisal of the limited partnership interests               
          would almost always include discounts for lack of control and               
          lack of marketability and that the valuation of discounts is a              
          subject on which taxpayers and the Commissioner may reasonably              
          disagree.                                                                   





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