I just double checked in my handy dandy "asset locator" that the online legal research company sees fit to give to law students. It says the same thing that this link does. It's a little clearer, though. This Whelen guy is definitely the trustee...however, the other two guys, Eichler and Betz are owners. The deed does not say HOW they hold title, and if the actual deed as recorded doesn't say, a court would interpret it to mean they are 50-50 owners (I'm 98 % sure that's true in Pennsylvania). So if one of the owners dies, his share goes to his heirs, and that is whomever he left it to in his will, which could have been the other guy. The actual deed on file could also have granted a right of survivorship, which in my family we called "winner takes all" after a very nasty battle with my step aunt whose father died before my grandmother. There is nothing on this deed that grants ownership to JW congregation, only that a JW congregation granted it to them (for $1). What is not public record, though is who exactly is the beneficiary of the trust of which Whelen is trustoring. Additionally, this property was not conveyed into a trust (from what I can see-those are usually really easy to see, an owner conveying it into the "Eichler Family Trust". One could only speculate...Anyone know if there were any local "legal" issues in Huntington Valley PA around the time these elders got the Kingdom Hall for a buck? This looks like asset shielding to me. Hmmm. (and who says posting on this board keeps me from studying for my properties midterm....). I also checked "Jehovah's Witnesses" in Pennsylvania. They are on the deeds to about 20 pieces of property that immediately popped, usually as local congregations. Didn't run WBTS, cause we already know they own tens of thousands of proeprties in the country. Shoshana.
