Opinion ID: 2831308
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Intent of Parties to Create Trust

Text: Even if this dispute could be resolved in a purely secular manner and without interference with TEC’s ecclesiastical determinations, I would still hold that the Episcopal Leaders met their summary judgment burden. The Anglican Leaders argue that no valid trust exists on the property and that, to the extent one did exist, it was revoked upon Good Shepherd’s 2006 amendment of its Bylaws. I disagree. 8 Under the Texas Trust Code, “[a] trust is created only if the settlor manifests an intention to create a trust.” TEX . PROP . CODE § 112.002. Further, the intent to create a trust must be expressed in writing. Id. § 112.004. As discussed above, neither the deed conveying the property at issue to Good Shepherd nor Good Shepherd’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws reference the creation of a trust. Courts in other states with similar trust statutes have struggled to determine the issue of whether the Dennis Canon, or similarly worded provisions in the governing documents of other hierarchical churches, creates a trust under such circumstances. See Jones, 443 U.S. at 606 (endorsing the means utilized by TEC to create a trust by noting that, as an alternative means of ensuring retention of the property by the higher entity, “the constitution of the general church can be made to recite an express trust in favor of the denominational church”). In Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Inc. v. Timberridge Presbyterian Church, Inc. (Timberridge), the Georgia Supreme Court held that a local church (Timberridge) affiliated with the hierarchical Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (PCUSA) held property in trust for the national church based in part on an explicit trust provision in PCUSA’s governing Book of Order, as well as on language in the local church’s charter documents. 719 S.E.2d 446 (Ga. 2011). Following a 1982 amendment to the Book of Order by PCUSA’s predecessor to add the property trust provision,3 Timberridge “functioned as a regular member of the national church” until a property dispute arose in 2007, leading to Timberridge’s withdrawal from PCUSA. Id. at 449–50. In applying the neutral principles doctrine to the dispute, the court aptly noted: 3 The northern and southern branches of the Presbyterian Church formally reunited as PCUSA in 1983, with the Book of Order retaining the trust provision. 719 S.E.2d at 448. 9 We review all of these materials [deeds, state statutes, and governing documents of the local and national churches], keeping in mind that the outcome of these church property disputes usually turns on the specific facts presented in the record, that the neutral principle factors are interrelated, and that our ultimate goal is to determine “the intentions of the parties” at the local and national level regarding beneficial ownership of the property at issue as expressed “before the dispute erupt[ed]” in a “legally cognizable form.” Id. at 450 (quoting Jones, 443 U.S. at 603). The court found persuasive that Timberridge’s Articles of Incorporation “proclaimed [its] allegiance to the PCUSA Book of Order” containing the trust provision and noted that “at no time during the more than two decades before this dispute erupted and the eight years after it was deeded the property at issue did [Timberridge] even seek to amend its Articles to demonstrate any different intent.” Id. at 455. By contrast, in From the Heart Church Ministries, Inc. v. African Methodist Episcopal Zionist Church, the Maryland Court of Appeals held the evidence established that the local incorporated church “did not, in fact, consent to the trust provisions” in the national church’s Book of Discipline. 803 A.2d 548, 569 (Md. 2002). Key to the court’s holding was the local church’s deletion, many years before the property dispute arose, of a requirement in its charter documents to act in accordance with the Book of Discipline. The court also noted the church’s addition of a provision in those documents addressing the disposition of church property upon dissolution of the corporation, as well as the absence of trust language in the deed. This omission was significant, the court noted, because the Book of Discipline required such language, but the national church had nevertheless acquiesced in the “deeding irregularity.” Id. Like the local church in Timberridge, Good Shepherd’s corporate documents “proclaimed allegiance” to TEC’s and the Diocese’s Constitutions and Canons. 719 S.E.2d at 455. The property 10 trust provision was added to the TEC Canons in 1979, before the church property was conveyed to Good Shepherd. Further, like the church in Timberridge, and notably in contrast to the church in From the Heart Church Ministries, “at no time during the more than two decades before this dispute erupted and the [twenty-four] years after it was deeded the property at issue did [Good Shepherd] even seek to amend its [corporate documents] to demonstrate any different intent.” Id. In fact, Good Shepherd amended its Bylaws twice before the underlying dispute arose, leaving untouched the provision agreeing to be bound by the TEC and Diocesan Canons.4 Moreover, the absence of trust language from the deed to the property at issue is not a departure from the requirements in the Canons and thus does not, in and of itself, raise suspicion about Good Shepherd’s intent to hold the property in trust. See From the Heart Church Ministries, Inc., 803 A.2d at 569. The Court cites with approval the Missouri Court of Appeals’ opinion in Heartland Presbytery v. Gashland Presbyterian Church, 364 S.W.3d 575 (Mo. Ct. App. 2012), which further supports the conclusion that a trust was imposed on the church property in this case. In Heartland Presbytery, the court held that a local church corporation’s Articles of Agreement, which stated that the local church was “connected with and ecclesiastically subject to” PCUSA’s predecessor, “[did] not establish its agreement to be bound by the property provisions of the PCUSA’s Constitution; instead, it suggests the opposite.” Id. at 585, 587. Noting that “[t]he ‘connected with’ language . . . cannot alone establish PCUSA’s trust interest,” the court went on to examine the statement that the local church “would be ‘ecclesiastically subject to’ the denomination.” Id. at 586. The latter 4 Bishop Ohl also testified by affidavit that Good Shepherd participated in the annual Diocese Conventions each year from 1966 through 2006. This includes 1984, the year the Diocese added the property trust provision to its Canons. 11 statement, the court concluded, implied that the local church “would not be subject to the denomination’s authority in non-ecclesiastical matters.” Id. The Articles also provided that title to any property acquired “vests, without qualification, in [the local church] itself, in its corporate capacity,” and that such property “can only be conveyed to others pursuant to specific authorization of its members . . . and of its Board of Trustees.” Id. at 587. These provisions, the court held, lent further credence to the conclusion that the local church did not consent to the PCUSA trust provision. Id. In this case, Good Shepherd’s corporate documents contained the kind of language that was conspicuously absent from the Articles of Agreement at issue in Heartland Presbytery. Prior to the split with TEC and the Diocese, Good Shepherd’s Bylaws stated not only that the church “is a constituent part of the Diocese of Northwest Texas and of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America,” but also that it “accedes to, recognizes, and adopts the General Constitution and Canons of that Church, and the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese of Northwest Texas and acknowledges the authority of the same.”5 This is consistent with Good Shepherd’s promise of “conformity to” TEC Doctrine when it originally applied for mission status and the declaration in its parish application that it was “conscientiously attached” to that Doctrine. Thus, unlike in Heartland Presbytery, Good Shepherd’s corporate documents constitute an “effective 5 The local church’s Bylaws in Heartland Presbytery did state that PCUSA’s Constitution was “obligatory upon it and its members” and that the Bylaws “shall be construed only in conformity” with the Constitution. 364 S.W .3d at 587. However, the court held that these provisions conflicted with the local church’s Articles of Agreement and that, under state law, the Articles controlled. Id. Here, there is no conflict between Good Shepherd’s Articles of Incorporation and its Bylaws; that is, nothing in the Articles of Incorporation is negated, or even affected, by the statement in the Bylaws that Good Shepherd acceded to TEC’s and the Diocese’s Constitutions and Canons. 12 expression of [Good Shepherd’s] intent to be bound by [TEC’s and the Diocese’s Canons],” which have included the property trust provisions since 1979 and 1984, respectively.6 Id. at 591. In sum, under a neutral analysis of the relevant documents, I would hold that the Episcopal Leaders met their summary judgment burden with respect to the creation of a trust. In light of the property trust provisions in TEC’s and the Diocese’s Canons, Good Shepherd’s corporate documents agreeing to be bound by those Canons, Good Shepherd’s periodic amendment of its corporate documents without altering its allegiance to the Canons, and Good Shepherd’s continued participation in Diocesan Conventions prior to the dispute, the Episcopal Leaders conclusively established an expression of intent by Good Shepherd to hold its property in trust for the benefit of TEC and the Diocese.