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SIGNATURE JOSEPH VAN DYKE
TITLE ASSISTANT TREASURER
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
To the Board of Trustees
Lord Abbett Tax-Free Income Trust
In planning and performing our audits of the financial statements of Lord Abbett
Tax-Free Income Trust (the "Trust") (including the Florida Series, Pennsylvania
Series, Michigan Series and Georgia Series) for the year ended October 31, 1998
(on which we have issued our report dated December 11, 1998), we considered its
internal control, including control activities for safeguarding securities, in
order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our
opinion on the financial statements and to comply with the requirements of Form
N-SAR, and not to provide assurance on the Trust's internal control.
The management of the Trust is responsible for establishing and maintaining
internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by
management are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs of
controls. Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit pertain to the
entity's objective of preparing financial statements for external purposes that
are fairly presented in conformity with generally accepted accounting
principles. Those controls include the safeguarding of assets against
unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal control, errors or fraud may
occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any evaluation of internal
control to future periods is subject to the risk that it may become inadequate
because of changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of the design and
operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of the Trust's internal control would not necessarily disclose
all matters in internal control that might be material weaknesses under
standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
A material weakness is a condition in which the design or operation of one or
more of the internal control components does not reduce to a relatively low
level the risk that errors or fraud in amounts that would be material in
relation to the financial statements being audited may occur and not be detected
within a timely period by employees in the normal course of performing their
assigned functions. However, we noted no matters involving the Trust's internal
control and its operation, including controls for safeguarding securities, that
we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of October 31, 1998.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management, the
Board of Trustees of Lord Abbett Tax-Free Income Trust and the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
December 11, 1998
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