Source: http://masscases.com/cases/app/24/24massappct241.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 14:17:30+00:00

Document:
CIVIL ACTION commenced in the Land Court Department on April 11, 1985.
Erik Lund (Samuel Zaharoff with him) for the plaintiffs.
Raymond J. Brassard (Mary B. Freeley with him) for Broad Street Construction, Inc., & others.
Edward B. Hanify (Frederic J. Torphy with him) for Roman Catholic Bishop of Fall River.
KASS, J. In 1951, four members of the Hillman family, without consideration, gave a release deed to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fall River (Bishop) of a seven and one-half acre parcel of land in North Attleborough. The deed read: "We . . . release to the . . . Bishop . . . for the use of St. Mary's Parish for educational, religious or recreational purposes, all our right, title, and interest in the land. . . ." The question on appeal is whether that language and circumstances attending the conveyance in 1951 impressed a charitable trust limited to specific charitable purposes upon the Bishop's title.
At the time of its conveyance to the Bishop, the locus was regarded by the Hillmans (Oscar Hillman and his three sons, of whom Arthur is the sole survivor) as something of an albatross. So long as St. Mary's parish school remained open, the locus served as a playground. In 1981, the school closed, and the locus was once again an albatross, this time to the Bishop. He sold the property on March 29, 1984, for $59,000 to real estate entrepreneurs who shortly thereafter resold the locus to the defendant Broad Street Construction, Inc., for $250,000. The albatross had turned into a swan. The swan has undergone a further metamorphosis into a condominium.
See Sullivan v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, 368 Mass. 253, 257 (1975). We affirm.
the contrary. Cf. Levine v. Amber Mfg. Corp., 6 Mass. App. Ct. 840, 841 (1978).
In two respects, the language of the 1951 deed is inconsistent with the grant of a title limited to a specific charitable purpose. First, the ordinary consequence of a release covenant in a deed is to convey a fee simple. Kaufman v. Federal Natl. Bank, 287 Mass. 97, 101 (1934). Park & Park, Real Estate Law Sections 12-13 (2d ed. 1981). See also G. L. c. 183, Appendix form (4). Second, the words "for the use of St. Mary's Parish," without more, do not establish a limitation on the estate granted. MacDonald v. Street Commrs. of Boston, 268 Mass. 288, 291, 295 (1929) ("for the purposes of a public street"). Loomis v. Boston, 331 Mass. 129, 130, 132 (1954) ("for the purposes of a public park"). Opinion of the Justices, 369 Mass. 979, 981 n.4, 985 (1975) ("The premises hereby conveyed are to be used . . . as a part of a Public Park and Playground now in process of development").
for educational, religious or recreational purposes" was inserted to differentiate the grant as a gift to benefit St. Mary's in particular from a gift to the Bishop (i.e., the entire Fall River diocese) in general. The charitable asset given, land, could be turned into another form of asset more useable by the designated charity, viz., cash. See Sullivan v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, 368 Mass. at 258-259. It is uncontroverted that the cash so generated was applied for the benefit of St. Mary's.
That the Bishop knew that prospective buyers were concerned about the state of the title to the locus because of the words of grant did not constitute an admission by the Bishop that he did not foresee a fee simple absolute. Cf. Abbott v. Walker, 204 Mass. 71, 73 (1910). The Bishop, as we know from the record, was not without legal advice, and it did not require an exceptionally clairvoyant conveyancer to foresee that purchase of the locus from the Bishop might carry with it purchase of a law suit.
[Note 1] Virginia E. Hillman and Ellen C. Hillman.
[Note 2] The complaint also named as defendants the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the individuals who initially purchased the locus from the Bishop, the developer of the condominium (together with its president and treasurer), the bank involved in financing the purchase of the locus, twenty-seven individual owners of the condominium units, and four banks involved in financing the purchases of the individual condominium units.
[Note 3] A gift with a general charitable intent, of course, imposes a trust of a sort in the sense that the grantee may not use the assets for private, personal purposes; the assets must be used for charitable purposes consistent with those of the designated charity. See, as illustrative cases, McNeilly v. First Presbyterian Church, 243 Mass. 331, 338-339 (1923); Greek Orthodox Community v. Malicourtis, 267 Mass. 472, 480-481 (1929); Smith v. Livermore, 298 Mass. 223, 236 (1937); Wellesley College v. Attorney Gen., 313 Mass. 722, 723-724 (1943); Attorney Gen. v. Olson, 346 Mass. 190, 196 (1963). For an example of a restricted purpose, see Newhall v. Second Church & Soc. of Boston, 349 Mass. 493, 499 (1965). See, for a delightful discussion of the subject, 4 Scott, Trusts Section 348 (3d ed. 1967). There is no restriction upon a gift with a general charitable intent as to the manner in which the charity may be served. The asset held, for example, may be sold and the proceeds applied to purposes of the charity, as here for church repairs. What the trial judge meant, therefore, when he ruled there was no charitable trust, was that there was not an imposition of a trust with a specific charitable purpose.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.