Breakaway Church Keeps Property In Largely Evidentiary Ruling

In Hudson Presbyterian Church v. Eastminster Presbytery, (OH App., Feb. 4, 2009), an Ohio appellate court upheld a state trial court’s decision that a break-away Presbyterian congregation retained title to its property. The Presbyterian Church USA claimed that under the PCUSA constitution (Book of Order, Sec. G-8.0201), congregational property is held in trust for the parent church body. Rejecting a claim that the dispute was ecclesiastical in nature, and thus outside of the court’s jurisdiction, the court held that defendant had failed to prove that an express trust over the congregation’s property had been created. It found that no admissible evidence of the Presbyterian Church USA's constitution had been introduced, and that defendant had not preserved for appeal the issue of whether a charitable trust had been created. The Layman Online discusses the opinion further.