Opinion ID: 2570347
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Trial Court's Ascertainment of Settlor's Intent

Text: ¶ 12 On partial summary judgment, the trial court held that the 1956 deed created a charitable trust. CP at 362, 367. While this ruling was not appealed, the parties on appeal dispute the settlor's primary intent in deeding the property to VCC and thereby establishing the charitable trust. The Court of Appeals concluded that substantial evidence supported the trial court's finding that the intent of the settlor was to benefit the new church, VCC, and to provide for its `success, growth, and endurance as a church, in ministering and spreading the gospel to the evangelical Protestants of the Vaughn community,' regardless of where the ministries were specifically located. Niemann, 118 Wash.App. at 837-38, 77 P.3d 1208 (quoting CP at 409). ¶ 13 Niemann correctly asserts that the creation and administration of a charitable trust lies with the settlor's intent. See generally IVA AUSTIN WAKEMAN SCOTT & WILLIAM FRANKLIN FRATCHER, THE LAW OF TRUSTS § 351 (4th ed.1989). But as VCC notes, the instrument which gave rise to the charitable trust here lacks the typical trust language and detail. As such, recognizing the various possible interpretations of the deed language, the trial court correctly found ambiguity existed. Finding ambiguity, the court looked to extrinsic evidence to construe the intent of the settlors. See Ski Park Farms, Inc., 120 Wash.2d at 739, 844 P.2d 1006. Here, Niemann again challenges the trial court's findings. ¶ 14 Niemann asserts that the purpose of the trust, based on the settlor's intent, was to maintain this specific Church Property ... for the use of the Protestant Evangelical Churches of Vaughn. Reply Br. of Appellant at 5. She bases her contention on two separate pieces of evidence before the trial court: (1) a 1998 affidavit signed by the two living grantors, and (2) ECC's articles of incorporation prior to merger. In the 1998 affidavit, grantors Harmon Van Slyke, Jr. and Richard Kroger stated that they believed the board of trustees of ECC intended that the stipulations contained in that deed/indenture be binding and permanent, and prevent any use of said land other than for a Protestant evangelical church in the community of Vaughn. Pl.'s Ex. 42. Additionally, they stated that ECC would never [have] granted [the property] if the Board of Trustees ever understood that the Vaughn Community Church, or its successors ... would have ever considered or acted to sell or gift this real property to a private party for profit making development; and/or any use other than that as a Protestant evangelical church of the community of Vaughn. Id. For Niemann's secondary support she cites the ECC articles of incorporation for the proposition that [t]he purpose of the [ECC] was to hold real property for `the promotion of regular and permanent meetings for religious worship in the Town of Vaughn, Pierce County, Washington....' Reply Br. of Appellant at 6 (quoting Pl.'s Ex. 61). ¶ 15 With regard to the grantors' 1998 affidavit the trial court considered sufficient and substantial evidence to disregard its application. First, while there is no dispute Kroger was a trustee of ECC in 1949 at the time of the merger, the trial court found it unclear as to whether Van Slyke, Jr. was also a trustee. CP at 386. Nevertheless, the court accepted him as one of the grantors of the 1956 deed. At trial, Van Slyke, Jr. maintained that ECC intended the church to remain in that spot but he also testified that the intent of the deed was to transfer the property to the Vaughn Community Church. Report of Proceedings (RP) at 254. Also at trial, Kroger apparently denied ever believing the grantors intended a restriction on alienation. He testified that [t]he intent of the deed restriction was not to preserve a particular piece of land or building. The intent was to perpetuate a Protestant Evangelical ministry in the Vaughn community and to insure that there was a Protestant Evangelical church available to the people of the Vaughn area. CP at 679. Kroger then testified that he did not know or understand what he was signing in 1998 and that Niemann's attorney actually prepared the affidavit. ¶ 16 As to the ECC articles of incorporation, Niemann takes the cited statement of purpose out of context. The relevant portion is found in the articles'Statement of Object and Purpose and reads, in full: The object of this corporation shall be to purchase, lease, receive by gift, legacy, bequest or otherwise, real and personal property wherever situated, and to sell, lease, mortgage or otherwise dispose of the same in any and every way that shall be useful to, and assist in, the promotion of the regular and permanent meetings for religious worship in the town of Vaughn, Pierce County, Washington, according to the principles and usages of the Congregational Churches of the United States. Pl.'s Ex. 61 (emphasis added). Thus, the articles fail to support her contention that the land was to remain and be used in specie. ¶ 17 The trial court concluded that the grantors had one overriding and dominant intent in conveying the Subject Property to VCC and that was to benefit the new church. CP at 388. Specifically, the court found that [t]he primary aspect of this purpose was to assist and ensure the continuation of the Protestant evangelical ministries of the Vaughn community through VCC, regardless of where they were specifically located and regardless of the name of that church ... [and][t]o see that ministry carried on. CP at 388-89 (emphasis added). While the trial court additionally found a specific intent to ensure that the subject property would be available for the Protestant evangelical churches of Vaughn, this purpose was secondary to the grantors'overriding and dominant intent. Id. Based on the above conflicting evidence, we defer to the trial court's findings of fact regarding the grantors' intent and note only that the record contains sufficient evidence to support its findings. See Sunnyside Valley, 149 Wash.2d at 879-80, 73 P.3d 369.