May interest rates for GRATs, sales to defective grantor trusts, intra-family loans and split interest charitable trusts *

USA - May 2 2012
The May § 7520 rate for use with estate planning techniques such as CRTs, CLTs, QPRTs and GRATs is 1.6% (up slightly from the 1.4% rate in January, February, March and April).

Wandry v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2012-88 (3/26/2012) *

USA - May 2 2012
In Wandry, a groundbreaking Tax Court case, the court approved a donor’s use of a defined value clause (a clause where the donee is entitled to a fixed dollar amount worth of property) which, upon an IRS revaluation of LLC membership interests, resulted in a reallocation of LLC interests to the original donor.

Estate of Turner v. Commissioner, 138 T.C. 14 (March 29, 2012) *

USA - May 2 2012
This Tax Court case, referred to as “Turner II,” is a follow-up to “Turner I,” a 2011 Tax Court case, Estate of Turner v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2011-209, which held that property underlying certain family limited partnership interests that were gifted by a decedent to family members during his lifetime were includible in the decedent’s estate.

Estate of Kelly v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2012-73 (3/19/2012) *

USA - May 2 2012
In Kelly, the Tax Court held that property of a family limited partnership should not be included in a decedent’s estate, even though the decedent owned 100% of the stock of the corporate general partner, and a management fee was paid to the corporation which could have potentially been used to pay the decedent’s living expenses.