In re United Presbyterian Women's Ass'n of North America

30 Pa. D. & C.4th 217, 1996 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 341
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedFebruary 1, 1996
Docketno. 4586 of 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 30 Pa. D. & C.4th 217 (In re United Presbyterian Women's Ass'n of North America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re United Presbyterian Women's Ass'n of North America, 30 Pa. D. & C.4th 217, 1996 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 341 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1996).

Opinion

WEKSELMAN, J.,

— The United Presbyterian Women’s Association of North America has filed a petition for approval of the creation of Wood-well Life Care Trust and plan of division of nonprofit charitable corporation. By its petition, the Association seeks to create a life care trust and transfer to it certain assets which are allocated to accounts for various activities of the Association. The petition is opposed by [219]*219the Attorney General of Pennsylvania and by the Mars Home for Youth. As the result of pretrial activities, it was concluded by all concerned that a threshold question of the propriety of the reallocation of certain funds from one activity to another existed, and that the court would undertake to determine that question, thereby possibly expediting the eventual determination of the matter. The court invited the parties to submit a stipulation, and one was submitted, although it was disappointing in its brevity. The stipulation is as follows: “The papers attached to this stipulation represent true and correct copies of various testamentary and inter vivos documents discovered by the parties. These documents contain the language at issue for purposes of the briefs filed by the parties— ” (emphasis in original) Despite the brevity of the stipulation, a reading of the petition provides much information necessary for the decision of the threshold question.

The petition provides, inter alia, as follows:

“(6) The Association was incorporated in 1879 under the name ‘The Orphans’ Home of the United Presbyterian Church of North America,’ pursuant to the predecessor to the Nonprofit Corporation Law of 1988. Originally, the Association’s corporate and charitable purpose was to care for orphans. Over the years, the Association’s purpose as it relates to youth first evolved to include foster-type care for older children. In recent years, the Association’s youth activities have focused on the care of emotionally troubled and abused youth. The Association’s youth activities are conducted under the fictitious name The Mars Home for Youth in facilities located in Butler County, Pennsylvania. This is not a separate corporate entity, but this institutional activity [220]*220over the years on behalf of orphans and youths is referred to in this petition as the ‘Home for Youth.’
“(7) In 1892, the Association acquired a piece of real estate and began operating what is now known as The Woodwell, a 118-bed nursing facility located in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. The Association’s elder care activities (nursing care — 29 beds, personal care— 44 beds and independent living — 45 beds) are conducted under the fictitious name The Woodwell. This is not a separate corporate entity, but this institutional activity over the years on behalf of the elderly is referred to in this petition as the ‘Home for the Aged.’
“Sources of funding and restrictions in trusts.
“(8) All activities of the Association are funded through a combination of:
“(a) Annual gifts and donations;
“(b) Payments for services from both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, county governments and the federal government;
“(c) Payments from residents of the Home for the Aged;
“(d) An undetermined number of testamentary and inter vivos gifts (most of which have been paid over to the Association, but 11 of which are still held and managed by third party trustees).
“(9) Historically, the Association has used a method of accounting, allocating certain assets separately to the Association, the Home for the Aged and the Home for Youth. The assets allocated to each of the three are accounted for separately, as is the income generated from each of the separate funds.
[221]*221“(10) Many of the wills and trust agreements which created these various gifts have language which purports to restrict the uses for the gifts — e.g., for use only with the Home for Youth or only with the Home for the Aged. In general, the Association’s fund accounting practice has reflected the restrictive language which appears in the controlling documents by allocating such gifts to the separate funds based on that language.” (emphasis in original)

It becomes critical, therefore, to examine the documents attached to the stipulation to determine whether the relief sought by the Association may be granted.

The Association, the Mars Home and the attorney general, strangely enough, have all, in general, cited the same authorities. It is the conclusions to be reached from the cited authorities which are hotly disputed. It is the basic position of the Association that gifts made by various testamentary or inter vivos documents to the Mars Home are of such nature as to be unrestricted gifts to the Association, which it is free to use for any of its charitable purposes. The Mars Home and the attorney general, on the other hand, take the position that, in the case of each gift, the purpose of the donor or testator is clear, and that the gift was made solely for the benefit of the Mars Home, and that the reallocation suggested by the Association is improper.

This court need not and will not discuss each of the gifts individually, but will rather discuss some of them to indicate what this court considers to be the fallacy of the Association’s position.

A clear example of a gift which this court concludes was made for the benefit of the Mars Home, and may not be diverted, exists in the case of what appears in the addendum to the stipulation as the Bartley deed [222]*222of trust. Paragraph Third of the deed of trust provides that:

“Upon the death of the survivor of the donors, the trustees [Philip M. Weber, Anne H. Ryman and the United Presbyterian Women’s Association of North America] shall grant, pay or distribute the Trust Property to the United Presbyterian Women’s Association of North America, who shall devote the same, both principal and income, to further the general purposes of the Home for Children at Mars, Pennsylvania, and if the said Home for Children shall not be in existence at the time of such distribution, the Association shall devote both principal and income for the charitable purposes of such home or homes or other charitable organizations as shall then be under the auspices of the said Association. ...”

There can be no question that the donors intended to benefit the Home for Children, and not the Association generally.

Another example is the Amsler will. That will provides, inter alia, as follows:

“Fourth: I give and bequeath:
“(F) $50,000 to the United Presbyterian Women’s Association of North America, a Pennsylvania corporation. It is my special desire, but I do not direct, that the said sum be used to establish a fund for the purpose of paying the annual income therefrom to or for the benefit of worthy young men and young women who are or have been residents of the United Presbyterian Home for Children, located near Mars, Pennsylvania, and who may be selected by said Legatee to attend such college or university located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as may be chosen by the applicant and approved by the said Legatee.

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Related

In Re Church of St. James the Less
833 A.2d 319 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
30 Pa. D. & C.4th 217, 1996 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-united-presbyterian-womens-assn-of-north-america-pactcomplallegh-1996.