Court Says Successor Organization Is Not “Successor” to Receive Trust
CRUT remainder went “unambiguously” to parent organization and trial court found continued affiliation necessary for successor
Ann Haskell created a charitable remainder unitrust in 1997 which provided that upon her death one-fourth of the residue would go to Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, “to be used for benefit of Meals on Wheels, Squirrel Hill Chapter, … or any successor thereto.” She further requested that if the funds could not be “used to full advantage” of that chapter, the board of the Society should distribute the funds to any one or more chapters of Meals on Wheels in Allegheny County. Many years after the CRUT was drafted, the Squirrel Hill Chapter had disaffiliated from the Society and created a new nonprofit corporation to operate the program. Who should receive the funds? A divided appellate court in Pennsylvania has affirmed a trial court decision granting the funds to the Society and not the new organization.
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