Copied from the Lawyers Weekly Newspaper 2/10/2020 (This Week's Decisions):
Where a 1956 will devised real property to a congregational church on the condition that it be used as a parsonage or for church purposes, a judgment declaring that the church's title to the property is absolute should be affirmed based on changes to the statutory rule against perpetuities, G.L.c. 184A, S3.
"In this case, decided on summary judgment, a church seeks to sell real estate restricted to church use by a bequest. Our resolution of this appeal requires us to consider the interplay between the terms of a testamentary gift of real property to a charitable entity, the applicable rule against perpetuities, and other provisions of the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code. We also consider whether a 1989 decision of a judge of the Probate and Family Court has preclusive effect on the issues before us. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court, in which the judge concluded that a charity's fee simple subject to a right of entry for condition broken became a fee simple absolute as a result of changes to the statutory rule against perpetuities, G.L.c. 184A, S3, as amended by St. 1961, c. 448, S2. ...
"Sara Joy Mayhew (decedent) died testate on March 12, 1956, having executed a will on January 2, 1956. The will provided in pertinent part: 'I hereby give, devise and bequeath the family homestead property (75 South Water Street, Edgartown) in which I now live and all the land on which it stands and adjoining, which I own and the improvements thereon ... to the Congregational Church in ... Edgartown so long as said homestead is used as a parsonage for the minister of said church or the Federated Church or so long as said property is used for church purposes (ental being one of such purposes), but if said homestead property is not so used as a parsonage or for church purposes, I give, devise and bequeath the said homestead property to The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Inc., a corporation having a usual place of business in Boston.' ...
"On September 26, 2016, the church commenced this action in the Superior Court seeking declarations that (1) it owned the homestead property in fee simple absolute and Historic New England had no enforecable right to the homstead property; (2) Historic New England had no right to impose preservation restrictions on the homestead property; and (3) the church was authorized to sell the homestead property and devote the funds to 'church purposes' either under the terms of the will or by application of the doctrine of deviation or cy pres pursuant to G.L.c. 214, S10B. A Superior Court judge declared that, pursuant to G.L.c. 184A, S7, inserted by St. 1989, c. 668, S1, the church owned the homestead property in fee simple absolute, and he dismissed the remaining requests for relief as moot.
