EAYTOIRNEY GENERAL 

OF EXAS 

Honorable A. $. Sutton 

County Auditor 

Anderson County 

Palestine, Texas 

Dear Sir: Opinion No. 0*4601 

Rer &Yfeot of zibsndonment or non-use 

on ti.tle to land constituting a 

oharitable trust. 

We have oonsldered the questions oontalnsd in our letter of 

May 18, 1942, addressed to the Attorney @enera 9 and reading 

as f 0110~s ; 

“On Jan. 26, 1881 5. W. Wallace et ux et al exeouted 

a deed, the material part of’ whioh reads as followar 

"'!Phat we, ci. W. Wallaoe and hie wife, M. J. Wallaoe, 

and W. B. Watson; for and in oonelderatlon of one 

dollar to us paid and the fuurther oonaiderat5on ol’ 

a desire to promote the oause of Bauoation have this 

day granted and sold and by these preasnts do grant 

sell and oonvey unto J, HI Barton Jama A, Quiok and 

U. W. LUnafoPa, Trua6rra for bhr &ok Sohool ~oi-tamunlby 

In Andrroon Oount and thrir auaooaaora fozwrr for thr 

uoa and brnrllb o iK the aohool and ohuroh purpoara thr 

followln drrorlbod land aibuabrd in Andrrron Oounby, 

Texas, a % out la nrllea north of PalrrbSnr, toni A 

part of tihr Norbh Xali of 0, Oroor Loagui 

IIf Be inning at 8, ID, oornrr of Lot Nor 6 of bhr aubdlvla ! on of arid north half and running North with l&r 

dlvldin 

oomem ! 

Lot Nor 0 and Lot No. 4 780 va a a rtonr lOP 

ram whloh a rrd oak 6 ln mkd X brr 8 1st W 7 9/6 

VY Hlokory 18 in mkd X bra N a0 deg. PI 1st VI Thenor 

oroaa rpring branoh a0 v r5ghb of I 

for oor from whloh a blook jaok 6 In r 

Ing 160 

brr N 

va and Porrt Oak 10 In n&d X bm S 56* W 8 VI 

Thrnoe Worth lb0 VI Stakr for oomor from whhoh port oak 

0 In in dla bra S 40 deg. W 0 l/4 VI a Hlokory 0 ti 

mkd x bra N 68 deg. W 9 VI Thpnoe South wlth rald Qulok@r 

weat Lm 160 v6 to the plaos of Irt oorner of this plot 

oontaln%ng 4 aorea of land to have and to hold the aam 
..- 

Hon. A. E. Sutton - Page 2-o-4601 

unto said school Trustees for school and church 

Purposes forever; We hereby convey and quit claim 

forever said lands and use and implements to said 

Trustees and their successors for the uses and purposes 

aforesaid.” 

“Many Years later the Elmtown Common School Distriot 

and the Conoord Common Sohool Distriot were organized. 

The Concord School District inoluaed the territory 

described hereinabove. The sohool house located and 

situated on the above desoribed property was moved 

into the Elmtown School Distriot and was later sold. 

There has not been a house on the above desoribed tract 

of land, nor has it been used for sohool or ohuroh 

purposes sinoe the removal of the building mentioned 

above. Assuming that G. W. Wallaoe et ux et al owned 

the fee simple title to the traot of land described in 

the above deed, and that there has not been a oonveyanoe 

of any kind or oharaoter since the date of the above 

described deed, which distrlot, if either, owns said 

land? 

“I shall appreoiate your opinion on the above question 

at your earliest oonvenienoe.~~ 

In our opinion, the deed mentioned’oreated a oharitable trust 

for school and ohuroh purposes in favor of the residents of 

the Quick Sohool Community in Anderson County, Texas. Charities 

are highly favored in law and it is an elemental rUle that a 

court of ohmoery will not allow a trust to fail for want of a 

trustee. 9 Tex. Jur. 55,56. “In the event that the person 

appointed trustee refuses to acoept the offioe, or resi 

after aooeptanoe, or beoause mentally inoompetent, or d rles) ”” 

or is removed, the court has the power to appoint another Person 

to act in his stead.” 42 Tex. Jur. 625. 

If it appears that the maintenance of the pro erty for sohool 

and ohurah purposes for the Quiok Sohool Comm % itg in Anderson 

County has beoome impraotioable, the Diatriot Court may, in a 

proper proceeding brought for that pur 080, 

decreed out of the trustees named in t R 

order the property 

e deed or their 

successors and vest It in the Conoord Common Sohool Distriot 

whioh now inoludes the Quiok Sohool Community, or the oourt 

might, depending on the facts, order the property sold and 

the prooeeds applied as nearly as may be to the oharitable 

purposes named in the deed. Inglish v, Johnson, 96 S. W. 558, 

Error Refused, 

The answer to your inquir 

is in the trustees J. H. g 

is that the title to the *o arty 

arton, 

Lunsford or their suoaes80rsr 

James A. Qulok and 6. #, 
Hon. A. E. Sutton - Page 3 O-4601 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

s/ Fagan Dickson 

BY 

Fagan Diokiori 

Asskitant 

FD:BT/cg 

APPROVED J7XJE 11, 1942 

8/ Gerald C. Mann 

ATTORNEY GEZWXAL OF TEXAS 

APPROVED OPINION COMXITTEE 

ByBWB, Chairman