Estate of Helen Christiansen, Deceased, Christine Christiansen Hamilton, Personal Representative - Page 53




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          25.2518-3(a)(1)(ii), Gift Tax Regs.  The Foundation, as the                 
          holder of the annuity, can do nothing to affect the contingent              
          remainder.  Similarly, Christiansen’s daughter, as the holder of            
          the contingent remainder, cannot do anything to affect the fixed            
          7 percent of the corpus to be paid annually under the annuity.              
          The two separate parts are in no way dependent on one another,              
          contrary to the majority’s holding.                                         
               The majority also fails to consider another key distinction            
          between Walshire and this case.  The disclaimant in Walshire                
          unilaterally created the interests, and the disclaimant retained            
          the life estate that he had personally created in the property.             
          Walshire v. United States, supra at 344-345.  The disclaimant               
          thus retained the life estate because of his decision to carve              
          the property into separate interests, not because the property he           
          disclaimed passed to a trust in which the disclaimant happened to           
          hold an interest.  On the other hand, Christiansen, not her                 
          daughter, created the separate interests in the Trust.  See sec.            
          25.2518-3(a)(1), Gift Tax Regs.  Christiansen’s daughter did not            
          create any property interest whatsoever.  She merely disclaimed a           
          fraction of the property passing to her under the will.5                    

               5There is also a theoretical distinction between Walshire v.           
          United States, supra, and this case.  A disclaimer permits a                
          beneficiary to step back and allow property to be passed to a               
          third party without incurring another level of tax.  The                    
          situation in Walshire, where the disclaimant disclaimed a                   
          remainder in property left to him but kept a life estate, is akin           
                                                             (continued...)           





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