Estate of Lillie Rosen, Deceased, Ilene Field and Herbert Silver, Co-Personal Representatives - Page 51

                                         -51-                                         
          enjoyment of her assets that she had had before the assets were             
          transferred to the LRFLP.  We find it understood that decedent              
          would receive distributions when and as she needed them.  “The              
          existence of an implied agreement is a question of fact that can            
          be inferred from the circumstances surrounding a transfer of                
          property and the subsequent use of the transferred property.”               
          Estate of Bongard v. Commissioner, supra at 129.  We find such an           
          implied understanding or agreement when we view the conduct of              
          the parties to the LRFLP agreement, as well as that agreement               
          itself.  See Estate of Reichardt v. Commissioner, 114 T.C. at               
          151; Estate of Rapelje v. Commissioner, 73 T.C. at 86.                      
               First, the LRFLP was not a business operated for profit; it            
          was a testamentary device whose goal was to reduce the estate tax           
          value of decedent’s assets.  Before the transfer of decedent’s              
          assets to the LRFLP, decedent directly paid her expenses and                
          fulfilled her plan of gift giving.  After the transfer, the LRFLP           
          used the assets received from decedent to pay indirectly the same           
          types of expenses and conduct the same gift giving.                         
               Second, decedent’s relationship to her assets did not change           
          following their transfer to the LRFLP and was not treated                   
          differently by either decedent’s daughter (as decedent’s                    
          attorney-in-fact) or the general partners of the LRFLP.  Decedent           
          transferred substantially all of her assets to the LRFLP, leaving           
          her few liquid assets on which to live.  Where an individual                






Page:  Previous  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54  55  56  57  58  59  60  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011