Opinion ID: 1762092
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Lapse Issue

Text: While we agree with Appellees' characterization of the case as one of first impression, the basic principles that govern this issue are quite well settled. We preface the discussion of these principles and their application to the instant case with a brief statement of the undisputed facts. The Anti-Tuberculosis League of Montgomery was incorporated on June 24, 1911, pursuant to Section 3613 of the 1907 Code, which required only a certificate stating the corporate name selected, the names of the trustees, and the length of time for which they were selected. On July 24, 1934, a constitution and bylaws were duly adopted, changing the name of the organization, and in 1944 the original charter was amended by providing the following sole purpose: 2. The purpose of this organization shall be to devise plans for combating tuberculosis in this City and County and generally by maintaining buildings for the treatment of sufferers, cooperating with County and City officials, and the County Board of Health in improving health conditions, and in such other ways as may appear to be advantageous in curing and preventing tuberculosis. That the Testatrix had a particular interest in the Montgomery Tuberculosis Sanitorium, which operated a hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis, can be readily discerned from the fact that her father suffered from tuberculosis, was a patient at the Montgomery Tuberculosis Sanitorium for many years, and died there. In addition, Testatrix's brother, John Randolph, also suffered from tuberculosis. By the year 1971, a drastic change developed in the method of treating tuberculosis. Whereas previously it was necessary to isolate patients and treat them in a sanitorium, the use of chemotherapy now made it possible to treat tubercular patients in a general hospital without risk of infecting other patients. Pursuant to the legislative enactment of T. 22, §§ 199 and 199(1), all State aid to tubercular hospitals ceased, effective September 30, 1973. Until 1971, Montgomery Tuberculosis Sanitorium operated as a corporation in furtherance of its sole purpose as stated in its 1944 amendment, the cure and prevention of tuberculosis. Its 1973 reincorporation, in Article 2, completely changed the objects and purposes of the corporation from those in effect at the time the will was executed. While the purpose of Montgomery Tuberculosis Sanitorium was limited to curing and preventing of tuberculosis, the word tuberculosis is not mentioned in the Articles of Reincorporation. The reincorporation gave as one of the objects and purposes, to establish, maintain, and operate a general hospital, dispensary, and out-patient department, for medical and surgical aid, care, and treatment for persons in need thereof. Those hospital buildings were conveyed to the State (Alabama Mental Health Board) in 1974. Greil Memorial owns no hospital facility of any kind, and no funds have been spent for tuberculosis treatment since 1973. Greil Memorial Hospital is not conducting health programs and services for the community. It is not conducting educational programs for students in various health fields. So, since 1974, the general objects and purposes of Article 2 have not been carried out. Greil Memorial is acting merely as a conduit for the distribution of income to various nonprofit organizations, including the Boy Scouts, alcoholic programs, and similar worthy causes. Its current financial statement shows that its only assets were cash and certificates of deposit, with an income of $29,085.92, out of which $28,330.00 was contributed to individual charities chosen by Greil. Here, as in all will interpretation cases, [t]he intention of the testator is the polestar to guide a court in the construction of a will and, in arriving at the testator's intention, the court should consider the instrument as a whole and not construe any paragraph separately. Wilson v. Skelton, 262 Ala. 504, 80 So.2d 633 (1955); Allen v. Maxwell, 249 Ala. 655, 32 So.2d 699 (1948); Smith v. Nelson, 249 Ala. 51, 29 So.2d 335 (1947). Perdue v. Roberts, 294 Ala. 194, 198, 314 So.2d 280, 282 (1975). Our ascertainment of the testatrix's intention is further aided by our adoption and application of the following rule: A bequest to a charitable corporation, formed for a single charitable purpose, is a gift in trust for that purpose, and no specific words of trust are necessary to its creation if that intention clearly appears. See Gordon v. Central Park Little Boys League, 270 Ala. 311, 119 So.2d 23 (1960). The rule and its rationale are well stated in Wesley Home v. Mercantile Safe Deposit & P. Co., 265 Md. 185, 289 A.2d 337 (1972): . . . In the construction and determination of the legal effect of donations to charitable corporations, the objects and purposes for which a charitable institution was incorporated may be considered. That is true because a gift, donation, or bequest, by name, without further restriction or limitation as to use, to a corporation organized and conducted solely for charitable purposes, may be deemed to have been made for the objectives and purposes for which the corporation was organized. See, also, American Bible Society v. American Tract Society, 63 N.J.Eq. 219, 50 A. 67 (1901). The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in In re White's Estate, 340 Pa. 92, 16 A.2d 394 (1940), expressed the rule in succinct language: A gift to a charitable or religious institution without stating the use to which it is to be put is a gift solely for the uses for which the institution was incorporated. In re White's Estate, 16 A.2d at 396. Applying these rules of construction to the instant facts, we think it is inescapable that, by her bequest to Montgomery Tuberculosis Sanitorium, Mrs. Brightwell's intention was to benefit that corporation in the furtherance of its sole purpose of curing and preventing tuberculosis; and, thus, to give this bequest to Greil Memorial Hospital would do violence to the plain intent of the testatrix. The basis for our holding is not the legatee's act of reincorporation nor its change of name. Mrs. Brightwell's unrestricted bequest to Montgomery Tuberculosis Sanitorium, expressing no specific purpose, would not be defeated even by a mere shift or alteration in its corporate activities. It is the total abandonment of its sole corporate purpose, which renders the reincorporated entity an entirely distinct and separate corporation, that thwarts the testatrix's intention and compels our holding that this legacy lapsed. Finding no error to reverse this aspect of the trial Court's ruling, we affirm.