I do believe I said that in the first place, that if a congregation is dissolved, its assets revert to the parent non-profit corporation, the WTS. But they do not "own" it as they too are a non-profit corporation.
Who owns the Kingdom Halls?
by dissed 14 Replies latest jw friends
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allelsefails
Here in Texas there was a congregation in Bonham a couple of decades ago. They went "apostate" and kept the Kingdom Hall. The WTS tried to prove that they were a hierarchal organization like the Catholic church to take it from them, but the courts sided with the elders who were the trustees. The court had no choice because the WTS had spent decades proving they were not a hierarchal organization (to protect themselves from lawsuits).
The WTS now has a new way of hooking in ownership of the halls. They "strongly recommend" we don't ever pay off our loan. I was an elder at a hall where we were close to paying off our loan from the WTS. They sent us a letter explaining how we could help a new cong. forming in our area by taking out a loan against our property and donating it to the new cong. our payment wouldn't go up, but we would NEVER pay off our loan. It is the trick to make sure what happened in Bonham never happens again. If you go "apostate" with a WTS loan on the property they can immediately foreclose on you if you can't payoff the balance.
Hypocrisy - Not to mention what they did to the brothers in Spain with the branch property.
Allelsefails
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Lady Lee
wow allelsefails
That explains why my old cong decided to build a new hall just around the time their mortgage was paid off -- instead of just creating a new cong when they had the elders to make the split
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no more kool aid
There is a congregation near us where a sweet little sister attended, never married, no children, no family in the truth. When she died she donated her estate and it was her wish that the congregation's mortgage be paid off so there would be less of a burden for younger families. Next thing you know there was a new light! The chariot changed direction! The territory maps were re drawn, that congregation was moved to a building with a big mortgage ( much farther away) and two foreign speaking congregations were moved to the paid for Hall. When anyone questioned this they were made very much made to feel they were not cooperating with holy spirit. I get that the congregation is responsible for dept, society's when it is an asset.
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thetrueone
I always thought that if any property were to be donated to be used eventually has a KH,
that the title of the property would have be legally written up to the new owners, that being the
WTS. a religious non-profit organization for tax purposes.
I wonder how much does the typical CO and DO have to do with the handling
of the properties/mortgages of the KHs.
I think Blondie is right in regards to how these properties are handled in the States.
You can certainly see what a win fall it is for the WTS., since many lands for which KHs were
built on were donated.
The interesting thing about this whole thing is the WTS. could actually dissolve itself into another
non-profit organization transferring all the assets from the WTS. and change many doctrines in the process.
A new organization with new light and a new legal identity.