Strand v. United (Methodist) Church

298 N.E.2d 779, 12 Ill. App. 3d 917, 1973 Ill. App. LEXIS 2337
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 29, 1973
Docket72-259
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 298 N.E.2d 779 (Strand v. United (Methodist) Church) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Strand v. United (Methodist) Church, 298 N.E.2d 779, 12 Ill. App. 3d 917, 1973 Ill. App. LEXIS 2337 (Ill. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE ALLOY

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of plaintiff Donald C. Strand as Executor of the Last Will and Testament of John C. Hoagland, deceased, in a declaratory judgmént action. Plaintiff brought the action in the Circuit Court of Iroquois County seeking declaratory judgment that funds in a special deposit which the decedent John C. Hoagland had made in the Sumner National Bank should revert to the decedent’s estate. The principal defendants named in the action were The United (Methodist) Church of Sheldon, its Board of Trustees, and the Attorney General of Illinois in his capacity of supervisor of charitable gifts and trusts.

The facts as set forth in the pleading and a stipulation are relatively undisputed. On February 18, 1963, John C. Hoagland executed a document which was in the following form:

“DIRECTIONS REGARDING SPECIAL DEPOSIT IN THE NAME OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF SHELDON, IROQUOIS COUNTY, ILLINOIS — FOR BUILDING PURPOSES
The undersigned, John C. Hoagland, hereby establishes a special deposit in the name of the board of trustees of the United Presbyterian Church of Sheldon, Iroquois County, Illinois, which funds may be withdrawn upon the signature of the President of the Board of Trustees and the Treausrer [sic] of the United Presbyterian Church upon the following conditions:
1. This deposit is made as a memorial in memory of Martha A. Hoagland, my mother, and Rebecca McCloud, my wife Harriet’s mother, by John C. and Harriett M. Hoagland.
2. This special account may be withdrawn by the designated officers of the Board of Trustees of the United Presbyterian Church, solely for building purposes as provided herein.
3. This deposit is made and established in the sum of Twenty Thousand ($20,000.00) Dollars solely for the purpose of building an educational and Sunday School addition to the church building in Sheldon, Illinois, which additions shall be as provided herein and shall be dedicated in memory of said Martha A. Hoagland and Rebecca McCloud.
4. The said funds shall be made available [sic] contract is let and construction has been commenced for the purpose of the addition herein specified.
Dated this 18th day of February, 1963.
/S/ John C. Hoagland (SEAL)
Said deposit is hereby accepted by the Board of Trustees of the United Presbyterian Church of Sheldon upon the terms and conditions herein defined and outlined.
Board of Trustees of United Presbyterian
Church of Sheldon, Illinois
By /S/ Carl John Julien
President of Board of Trustees
/S/ Thomas M. Rice
Treasurer”

On February 26, 1963, eight days following the execution of the document, Hoagland established a special account in the Sumner National Bank by depositing $20,000 in the name of “Board of Trustees of the United Presbyterian Church of Sheldon.” It is not shown in the record whether the bank was given a copy of the document or was aware of it. After the special deposit had been made, on December 18, 1965, Hoagland was adjudicated an incompetent and a Conservator was appointed for him. Thereafter, on or about June 30, 1967, the United Presbyterian Church of Sheldon, pursuant to a vote of its congregation, merged with the Sheldon Methodist Church and the merged church was known, as The United (Methodist) Church of Sheldon, and occupied and utilized the church building of the former Sheldon Methodist Church. At the time of the merger, the building formerly used by United Presbyterian Church was abandoned for church purposes.

Decedent Hoagland died on October 19, 1969, six years and eight months following the making of the special deposit. At the time of his death the accumulated interest had increased the account to a sum in excess of $24,300. Prior to the date of Hoagland’s death, neither the United Presbyterian Church nor the merged The United (Methodist) Church of Sheldon, made any effort to use the deposit for the purposes set forth in the document dated February 18, 1963, nor did The United (Methodist) Church of Sheldon exert any claim to the deposit. After the death of Hoagland, both the executor of Hoagland’s estate and the merged church laid claim to the bank account. The litigation now before us ensued.

On appeal in this court, defendants make two alternative contentions. Appellants contend that Hoagland made an absolute and unconditional gift to United Presbyterian Church, thus causing the deposit to become the property of the merged church. They also contend, alternatively, that the document of February 18, 1963, which we herein refer to as the “Directions”, created a charitable trust which may be given effect as to the merged church under the doctrine of cy pres. We do not believe either contention may be sustained.

A gift is a voluntary, gratuitous transfer of property by one to another. It is axiomatic, in the law, that the burden of proof rests upon the donee to prove all facts essential to establishing a valid gift. To constitute a legally effective gift inter vivos, there must be an intent manifested by the donor to make such a gift. There must also be an absolute and irrevocable delivery of the property to the purported donee, or to such donee’s agent, with the intention of vesting the title and the immediate right of possession, absolutely and irrevocably, in the purported donee, without restrictions. The donor must relinquish all present and future power and dominance over the subject matter of the gift. There must also be evidence of acceptance by the donee. If, however, the delivery is absolute and unconditional, so that the claimed gift takes effect at once, the acceptance of the donee may be implied. (Dudley v. Uptown National Bank of Moline, 25 Ill.App.2d 514; In re Estate of Meyer, 317 Ill.App. 98; Gordon v. Gordon, 113 Ill.App.2d 191.) As stated in Pocius v. Fleck, 13 Ill.2d 420, at 428:

“The gift must be executed and completed in the lifetime of the donor, and if not so completed in his lifetime, his death revokes that part of the gift which has been performed. In re Estate of Carlin, 5 Ill.App.2d 241; In re Estate of Waggoner, 5 Ill.App.2d 130.”

While it is apparent that the money was deposited with the bank as an agent for the donor, rather than as agent for the donee (see: In re Estate of Meyers, 317 Ill.App. 96, 102; and People ex rel. Auditor of Public Accounts v. West Side Trust & Savings Bank of Chicago, 376 Ill. 339, 342-343), we need only look to Paragraph 4 of Hoagland’s “Directions” to conclude that an absolute gift inter vivos was neither intended nor accomplished when the special deposit was placed in the bank.

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Bluebook (online)
298 N.E.2d 779, 12 Ill. App. 3d 917, 1973 Ill. App. LEXIS 2337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/strand-v-united-methodist-church-illappct-1973.