- 14 - trustee's ability to favor a noncharitable "income" beneficiary through his management of the trust assets during the period before the remainder vests.12 See Estate of Gillespie v. Commissioner, 75 T.C. at 376-378; H. Rept. 91-413 (Part 1), supra at 58-60, 1969-3 C.B. at 237-238; S. Rept. 91-552, supra at 86- 87, 1969-3 C.B. at 479. Because the noncharitable beneficiaries' interests were not fixed as required in section 2055(e)(3)(C)(ii), the only remaining option for reformation was commencement of a judicial proceeding to reform the trust within 90 days after the estate's tax return was due. See sec. 2055(e)(3)(C)(iii). Since no such proceeding was ever commenced, the estate has failed to satisfy the requirements of section 2055(e)(3)(C)(iii). As a result, the remainder interest at issue is not a "reformable interest", which precludes any reformation whereby it could meet the requirements for a deduction under section 2055(e)(2). While this result may seem harsh, the legislative history makes clear that Congress intended a tightly circumscribed reformation rule. Congress was concerned that an overly liberal rule would permit abuse; namely, that taxpayers would not reform 12 In this regard, we note that although the governing instrument gave the trustee authority to act with respect to the trust assets "in all manners consistent with the laws of the States of Illinois and Massachusetts", the trustee could sell stock held by the trust only upon the approval of Wanda Rodgerson, one of the noncharitable beneficiaries.Page: Previous 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Next
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