VirtueOnline - News: "Ruth Gregory Soper"
Soper Trust Trial Pits Diocese of Washington versus PNC Bank over control of Legacy
Public Testimony about the Diocese of Washington Anticipated
By Sarah Frances Ives
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
December 11, 2012
Recently filed papers offer insights about the legal arguments in this long fight between the Diocese of Washington and PNC Bank. Both sides agree that following Mrs. Ruth Gregory Soper's death in 1973, her will bequeathed outright grants of money to nineteen groups, including George Washington University and St. Alban's School.
Yet for the Diocese of Washington, Mrs. Soper set up a trust in perpetuity and gave the Diocese only the interest income only from her trust. Court documents written by PNC Bank point out that Mrs. Soper herself was the recipient of two trusts set up by her father; after her experience living under these managed accounts, she intentionally chose a trust for the Diocese of Washington.
Both sides agree that under PNC's management, the Trust grew from 3.75 million to about 26 million. The Diocese has received 20 million dollars since 1995 from interest alone from the trust managed by PNC Bank.
Since its beginning, this respected trust had originally been used for charitable works by the Diocese of Washington but since 2002 has been used for operating costs for the diocese. In 2002 the Diocese of Washington Convention passed a resolution stating that they did not want the Soper Trust money to go for operation expenses but this practice has continued to this day. In 2010 the financially-strapped Diocese of Washington challenged the powerful PNC Bank, attempted to claim control over the Soper Trust, and stated that they did not want to pay fees to PNC Bank anymore.
The Diocese's argument states that Mrs. Soper chose Riggs Bank (now PNC Bank) to oversee her trust because she was not aware of their qualified Diocesan Investment Committee. In Diocesan thinking, Mrs. Soper would have given the money directly to the diocese if she had known of this committee that had been founded in 1950. Diocesan attorneys write, "In the case at bar, circumstances not knowable or foreseeable by Mrs. Soper call for the termination of the Soper Trust. . . .There is no evidence that Mrs. Soper was aware of the existence of the Diocesan Investment Committee." In an argument that seems to compliment PNC Bank's investment, diocesan lawyers also argue that the trust is now larger than was expected at its inception. "There is likewise no evidence that Mrs. Soper foresaw the growth of the Soper Memorial Fund from approximately $3.75 million at her death to approximately 26 million today." (Document 100, pg. 3)
Both of these arguments have the potential of backfiring upon the Diocese with their expression of the unexpected amount of the current Soper trust coupled with the relative inexperience of the Diocesan Investment Committee in handling $26 million dollars.
In the Diocese of Washington's Proposed 2013 Diocesan Operating Budget, the Interest and Investment Income only totals $120,000 in comparison to the $1,216, 000 from the Soper Trust. In this same budget, the Interest and Investment Income offered 3.2% of the revenues, while the Soper Trust interest managed by PNC Bank offers 32.3% of the revenues. The fitness of the Diocesan Investment Committee to handle $26 million needs to be proven.
The Diocese argues that Mrs. Soper's money is now their money. "It cannot be rationally argued that Mrs. Soper's intent in establishing her trust was for any other purpose aside from benefiting the Diocese." (Document 100, pg. 3) PNC argues that the charitable trust was meant to benefit the community at large and not the Diocese specifically. PNC states that Mrs. Soper intended that the interest would go for charitable works and the trust would continue forever. Indeed, she was knowledgeable about trusts because she had dealt with the two trusts left to her and specifically chose a trust as a way of maintaining her fortune forever, while keeping the corpus of money at arm's length away from the Diocese of Washington.
PNC Bank differentiates between private and charitable trusts and states that charitable trusts are never given to beneficiaries outright. "The Diocese is asking the Court to do something that has not been sustained in any reported court decision-terminate a perpetual charitable trust pursuant to the Claflin doctrine." (Document 98, page 6 of 27.) PNC continues with, "Termination of the Trust would also run contrary to important policies of the law promoting the freedom to give property as one chooses and the creation of charitable trusts. For all these reasons, the Trustee asks the Court to deny the Diocese's Petition."
The court documents state that this case is important for all trust laws and may "open a Pandora's box of new law and litigation" (pg. 24 of 27) The Diocese of Washington has already opened many a Pandora's boxes, this litigation of which is only the latest. With both legal experts and Anglican leaders watching this Soper Trust trial, watchers wait to see what other secrets of diocesan leaders will be exposed in public testimony that is sure to include information about the financial difficulties and inner workings of the Diocese of Washington.
Sarah Frances Ives is a regular correspondent for Virtueonline. She resides with her family in Washington DC
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