Could Moore Have Been Better Served With Less (Effort)?Could Moore Have Been Better Served With Less (Effort)?

When bad facts make bad law, there’s a tendency to dismiss the result. The U.S. Tax Court case of Estate of Moore v. Commissioner¹ raised a correct conclusion about valuation adjustment clauses but used a flawed analysis. Although Moore is a memorandum decision, meaning it’s not citable as precedent, it merits study especially because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court affirmed the result without potentially undermining valuation adjustment clauses.²

Valuation Adjustment Clause

Howard Moore, who was age 89 and had a terminal illness, sought to minimize estate taxes on his extensive real estate holdings. Howard owned a farm that spanned approximately 845 acres in Arizona. His lawyer created a complex estate plan with seve...