Lillie Rosen RevisitedLillie Rosen Revisited

Daniel D. Mielnicki, shareholder, and G. Michelle Ferreira, of counsel, Greenberg Traurig, Boca R

Google Estate of Lillie Rosen and you'll get about 20,200 results. The number and breadth of websites devoted to Lillie Rosen and her family limited partnership (FLP) shows the buzz this case generated in the estate-planning community this year. Many commentators describe the Estate of Lillie Rosen¹ as a great example of an FLP that went awry — and got slapped down by the U.S. Tax Court.

But Judge David Laro's opinion in this case is far more than a primer on what not to do when trying to squeeze an FLP into the exceptions allowed under Internal Revenue Code Section 2036. It's an opinion that allows the Internal Revenue Service to support the ...