Board of County Com'rs v. Sand Springs Home

1939 OK 288, 91 P.2d 376, 185 Okla. 305, 1939 Okla. LEXIS 332
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 20, 1939
DocketNo. 27324.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1939 OK 288 (Board of County Com'rs v. Sand Springs Home) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of County Com'rs v. Sand Springs Home, 1939 OK 288, 91 P.2d 376, 185 Okla. 305, 1939 Okla. LEXIS 332 (Okla. 1939).

Opinions

RILEY, J.

This appeal grows out of an application of Sand Springs Home, defendant in error, to have' removed from the tax rolls of Tulsa county certain farm lands and town lots located in Tulsa county and owned by it.

The board of county commissioners held the property taxable and denied the application. Sand Springs Home appealed to the district court, where trial de novo was had. The district court held the lands exempt and entered judgment removing same from the tax rolls, and the county appeals.

The parties are hereinafter referred to as the Home and the County.

The Home is a charitable institution incorporated in 1912, under the laws of the state of Oklahoma. The Home owns approximately 300 acres of land near Sand Springs upon which it maintains an orphan’s home where 100 or more orphans (who have neither father nor mother) are kept and maintained. Upon the same tract the Home also maintains a widow’s colony where it has 40 cottages, in each of which it usually has a widow having two or more minor children. Where the mother is able to work and finds employment, she does so, but except for such earnings the widows and their children are kept and maintained at the expense of the Home.

It is conceded that this land and all the improvements thereon is exempt and no at tempt has ever been made to tax it. In addition thereto the Home owns about 3,500 acres of farm land in Tulsa county, and many town lots in Sand Springs and Tulsa. It is this property which the County contends is taxable. It was placed on the tax rolls for the years 1931 to 1934, inclusive, and these proceedings were commenced to have said property removed from the tax rolls for said years.

Some of the property was donated and conveyed to the Home by Charles Page long before his death, and part of it was devised to the Home by the will of Charles Page.

It is admitted by the County that the orphans’ home and widows’ colony are both primarily charitable institutions, and that *306 their work is of a beneficent and charitable character.

The County contends that the real property here involved is not exempt from taxation for the reason that no part thereof is used directly in the operation of the orphans’ home, widows’ colony, or other charitable works, and that the income therefrom is not used exclusively for charitable purposes.

Substantially all the property owned by the Home was acquired by gift or devise from Charles Page. The declaration of trust, and the will of Charles Page, both provide in substance that certain annuities provided in the will to be paid to Lucile Page, wife of Charles Page, Mary Charlie Page, their adopted daughter, Elmore A. Page, Ada Ruth Page, and Edwyna Elizabeth Page, children of Charles Page’s brother, should be a first charge against the income from all the property given by Charles Page to the Home. Lucile Page, the wife, was given an annuity of §2,000 per month during her life, Mary Charlie Page, the daughter, was given an annuity of §500 per month during her lifetime, with the further provision that should she leave any children the same amount should be paid to such children during their lives. To each of the children of Ed A. Page was given an annuity of §250 per month during the life of such child.

By the terms of a codicil to the will, dated March 3, 1926, certain specific real property, lots 1 and 10, in block 59, Original Town of Tulsa, was devised to the Home by the following provision:

“I hereby give devise and bequeath to said Sand Springs Home, subject to the following conditions and restrictions, as well as to the provisions of said Declaration of Trust, the following described real estate and premises, situate in Tulsa County, State of Oklahoma, to wit: Lots One (1) and Ten (10) of Block Eifty-nine (59) Original Town of Tulsa, according to the recorded plat thereof, same being the real estate owned by me lying on the south side of Archer Street between Main Street and Boston Avenue, in the City of Tulsa.
“And the consideration of this devise is that the x>ayment of the annuities and legacies hereby given to my wife and daughter, shall be a first charge to be paid by the Sand Springs Home out of the monthly rents of said real estate, and same shall be an en-forcible lien against said real estate and a perpetual covenant running with said lands during the lives of my wife, Lucile Page and my daughter, Mary Charlie Page, said.real estate shall also be subject in addition to said lien, to all of the provisions of said Declaration of Trust. This provision is an additional security to that provided by said Declaration of Trust.”

By other provisions of the will, as well as the declaration of trust, all the property conveyed to the Home by Charles Page, whether by deed or by will, and all the income therefrom, was made liable for the payment of the annuities to Lucile Page, Mary Page, El-more Page, Ada Page, and Edwyna Page.

The declaration of trust specifically provides that as a part of the consideration of the property conveyed and to be conveyed to the Sand Springs Home Corporation, said corporation would carry out the trust, and

“Shall and will out of any monies, property, or assets of any kind or nature received by said Sand Springs Home Corporation in any manner whatever, pay, satisfy and discharge * * * any and all payments, provisions and directions touching the support or care of said Lucile Page, wife of said Charles Page, of Mary Page, the adopted daughter of said Charles Page, and of Elmore Page, Ada Page, and Edwyna Page, son and daughters of said Edwin A. Page. * * *”

After the death of Charles Page and the admission of the will and codicils to probate, Lucile Page, the widow, declined to accept under the will, and claimed her interest in the estate under the law. Settlement was made with her, whereby the Home paid her $1,800,000, and thereafter the annuity of §2,000 per month to Lucile Page, provided m the will, was no longer paid to her. This left annuities payable under the will of §1,250 per month.

These annuities were not paid in full for the four years 1931-1934. §11,857 was paid in 1931, and §9,890 in 1932. §16,123 was paid in 1933, and $15,461 in 1934.

The net annual income of the Home for each of the four years, not allowing for depreciation, was approximately §63,750. The annual cost of maintenance of the widows’ colony was approximately §13,250; annual cost of maintenance of the orphans’ home was approximately §53,000, and for other purely charitable purposes, the Home expended annually an average of about $20,000. After allowance for depreciation, the books of the Home would show an apparent annual loss of about §54,000. However, during the four years the Home expended for investments and developments about $190,000. The estimated value of all the assets of the Home as of December 31, 1934, was §7,844,000. The record does not disclose the approximate value of all the property in Tulsa county sought to be subjected to taxation. The net annual income from property described, lot 1, block 59, Original Town of Tulsa, after allowance for depreciation, was about $12,-500.

It will thus be seen that assets of the Sand *307

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Bluebook (online)
1939 OK 288, 91 P.2d 376, 185 Okla. 305, 1939 Okla. LEXIS 332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-county-comrs-v-sand-springs-home-okla-1939.