Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1952 [PAGE 565]

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BOARD OF T R U S T E E S

[April 19

While the University as a separate governmental entity of the state acts in accordance with state laws, it is the policy of the University to co-operate with local authorities in dealing with problems of mutual concern. With these conditions in mind, the University's Building Program Committee recommends that the Board of Trustees accept the Comprehensive Development Plan as a general guide for the future development of the campus at UrbanaChampaign. I concur.

On motion of Mr. Fornof, this recommendation was adopted.

BEQUEST O F BENJAMIN F. H U N T E R (28) T h e late Benjamin F . Hunter of Lebanon, Indiana, who died on January 22, 1951, left an estate, in which the University of Illinois has an interest, consisting of certain securities, the value of which has not yet been ascertained, residence property in Lebanon in which he lived, approximately 240 acres of farm land in DeWitt County, Illinois, and approximately 450 acres of farm land in Piatt County, Illinois. Under his will, Miss Ruth Alice Hundley of Lebanon, Indiana, is bequeathed $10,000 plus certain personal property, and a life estate in the residence property in Lebanon and in the DeWitt County farm lands. T h e remainder in those properties after her death and all the farm land in Piatt County are bequeathed and devised to the Millikin Trust Company, Decatur, as trustee of a fund to be used for undergraduate scholarships at the University of Illinois and its several branches for worthy and needy students from farm homes in Illinois. T h e will also provides cash legacies to two other friends and to two brothers and one sister of Mr. Hunter. T h e Illinois State Museum is to receive certain personal property, including collections of antique clocks, furniture, and other household furnishings. The bequest in this case is validation of a gift of these articles previously made to the Museum but retained in the possession of Mr. Hunter during his lifetime. Miss Hundley and the Millikin Trust Company of Decatur are named Executors. T h e scholarships are to be designated "The Jeanette Evangeline and Benjamin F . Hunter Scholarship" in memory of Mr. Hunter and his wife, who predeceased him. She was an alumna of the University of Illinois. Mr. Hunter's two brothers and sister, all of whom live in California, succeeded in filing informal objections to the will and to its admission to probate in the Boone County, Indiana, Circuit Court two days after his death and two days before the Executors obtained possession of the will and filed it for probate. Subsequently, the heirs filed formal objections to admission of the will to probate, charging that Mr. Hunter was not mentally competent to make a will at the time it was executed and that execution by him of the will was procured by fraud and undue influence exercised by persons unknown to the objectors and that the will was not properly executed. Under Indiana law, filing of objections to a will even before it has been filed for admission to probate is permissible. This places upon the proponents of a will the burden of establishing its validity and a unanimous verdict of twelve jurors must be obtained when a trial is had under such proceedings in order to secure admission of the will to probate in Indiana. In the meantime, on petition of the objectors, the Court has appointed the Boone County State Bank, Lebanon, Special Administrator, whose sole function is to preserve the personal property of the estate. Since so much of the real property of the estate is in Illinois, it may be possible to secure the admission of the will to probate in this state before a trial is had in Indiana, but this requires producing the will in the Illinois Court. The original is now on file in the Office of the Clerk of the Boone County Circuit Court in Indiana, which Court will undoubtedly refuse to permit its withdrawal from the custody of its Clerk while the present proceeding is pending in that Court. T h e objectors are certain to resist any such move. It may be possible to secure admission of the will to probate in Piatt or DeWitt County, Illinois, by providing a certified photostatic copy instead of the original. Whether this can be done is doubtful. The validity of the will having been challenged, its executors may not use any funds of the estate for the purpose of defending it. In the meantime, certain